The Maine state government announced it would be offering $1,500 payments to residents who begin working between June 15-30 in an effort to incentivize residents currently receiving unemployment benefits to return to work.
The state government said the payments, which are part of its “Back to Work” program, will be administered by the Maine Department of Labor and the Department of Economic and Community Development.
On top of the $1,500 payment, residents returning to the workforce in June will be eligible for an additional $1,000 payment, according to the Bangor Daily News.
The program, which operates on a first-come, first-serve basis and has the potential to impact up to 7,500 Maine residents, will use $10 million of federal funds.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) said in a press release that the state is "providing another tool to accelerate peoples’ transition back into the workforce."
We have worked hard over the last fifteen months to get the pandemic under control so that it’s safe for everyone to return to work. Now COVID cases are down, vaccines are widely available, and jobs are plentiful.
In order to receive the payment, employees are required to have received unemployment for the week of May 29, 2021, accepted a full-time job paying less than $25 an hour and stay with the job for eight weeks and stay with that job for eight weeks while not receiving unemployment benefits.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a report in early June, showing that the labor shortage in the U.S. has worsened since the start of the new year, with a record 8.1 million vacant jobs in the U.S.