New York Considers a $1,200 ‘Back-to-Work’ Bonus

As New York businesses struggle to hire employees, New York lawmakers are considering enticing workers to apply for jobs with a "back to work" bonus.

Several other states are offering workers an incentive to go back to work. Arizona is offering $2,000, Montana is offering $1,200, and Connecticut recently announced a $1,000 back-to-work bonus.

Now, according to Spectrum News, Republican state Sen. Ed Rath introduced legislation attempting to encourage New Yorkers to rejoin the workforce. After four weeks of employment, a person would receive a bonus of $1,200 for returning to work.

Currently, the additional unemployment benefits are scheduled to end on September 6th unless they are extended. Although, it's unlikely that that will happen.

According to the article in Forbes, there are millions of jobs that are going unfilled and people argue that one of the main reasons is because people are making more money on unemployment than they can back in the workforce. Others say the reason is that the jobs that are available aren't at the same level of income that an unemployed person was making before losing their job during the coronavirus pandemic.

Personally, I think once the extra unemployment benefits end on September 6th there are going to be a whole lot of people that will be looking to return to work. Especially since wages are being pushed higher due to supply and demand.

Currently, the New York Legislature is on break so nothing will be voted on until they are back.