A New Jersey program that incentivizes unemployed people to return to work has only distributed a small fraction of its $10 million budget since it launched in late September, records obtained by Gothamist show.
The Return and Earn program was announced when the state’s unemployment rate remained alarmingly high at 7.1%. At the time, Gov. Phil Murphy said the program would give unemployed workers a $500 bonus and subsidize the costs of teaching them new skills at companies with 100 or fewer employees.
Murphy said he would allocate federal coronavirus aid money from the American Rescue Plan and pay 50% of new hire wages during a “training period” of up to six months, with a maximum of $10,000 per employee, and $40,000 per employer.