U.S. State of Idaho Will Pay Jobless Residents $1,500

Millions of people across the country lost their jobs. Moreover, nearly 150,000 workers from Idaho filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the 12 weeks since authorities declared a state of emergency in mid-March. Interestingly, the state’s unemployment rate jumped to 11.5% in April.

As a result, compared with March the unemployment rate increased by 2.5% in April. It is not surprising as due to the coronavirus pandemic companies in Idaho as well as in other states are struggling to avoid the worst-case scenario.

However, unemployment is not the only problem. In some cases, people earn more money thanks to unemployment benefits compared with their salaries. As a result, it won’t be easy to convince, at least some of the workers to get back to work.

The governor of the state decided to solve this problem by paying jobless residents $1,500 to lure them back to work. Interestingly, this effort is similar to a proposal being floated by members of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill. As a reminder, U.S. lawmakers must soon decide whether to continue supporting people who lost their jobs due to the restrictions imposed by the authorities to contain the virus.

Democrats in Congress would like to extend the $600 weekly boost to benefits approved by Congress several months ago. However, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the $600 payment, which supplements the aid provided by the states, will expire in late July. According to Kudlow, they want people to go to work. Moreover, to accomplish this goal President Donald Trump wants to provide some kind of bonus to encourage people to get back to work.

Local economy and Idaho’s Governor

As stated above, many jobless Americans are now making more on unemployment than they did at work. This is a serious problem, as this imbalance gives people an incentive to remain on the sidelines.

Idaho’s Republican Governor Brad Little wants to tackle this problem by paying jobless residents to go to work. In Idaho, people who lost their jobs will receive a one-time $1,500 cash payment to resume full-time jobs. In the case of part-time jobs, residents will receive $750.

It is worth mentioning that, people who lost their jobs starting from March 1 to and are willing to return to work between May 1 and July 1 will benefit from this decision. However, 70,000 residents will be able to receive this one-time payment. Employers will file on behalf of their workers.