Name: Gov. Lamont supports plan to offer $450 stipend to people returning to work
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Gov. Lamont supports plan to offer $450 stipend to people returning to work

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AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantJun 18, 2020 at 5:55 pmGov. Ned Lamont turned some heads this week, saying a $600 per week unemployment benefit offered to laid off and furloughed workers during the coronavirus pandemic does not need to be extended.Thursday, he backed a plan that has been supported in Congress by at least some Republican lawmakers that would pay workers $450 as an incentive to return to work. The $450 benefit, as proposed by Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, would be paid out weekly for an extended period of time for people once they secure a job.AdvertisementThis comes as the state’s unemployment rate was about 19% in May and 13.3% nationally. The state’s official jobless rate is 9.4%, but state labor officials say data collection is flawed.Advertisement“I’m doing everything I can to encourage people to get back to work, make sure that they can do it safely,” Lamont said at a New Britain press briefing. “If they can’t do it safely, if they don’t feel like they can do it safely, they’ll be reluctant to go back.”He also encouraged the federal government to send a grant to Connecticut to boost the state’s unemployment fund.“Rather than a 600 ‘true up’ what I really would appreciate is them making a grant to our unemployment compensation fund,” Lamont said. “Make it a grant, not a loan [to the state]. That would allow us to keep unemployment taxes low.”Congress is still in the process of negotiating a fourth stimulus package. The Heroes Act, proposed by House Democrats, would extend the federal benefits of $600 per week until January 2021. The benefit is set to expire July 31. Lamontthe Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce Wednesday that he does not think it is necessary to extend the the federal government’s $600 per week pandemic unemployment benefit. He expressed concerns the federal benefits may discourage some employees from going back to work.Other Connecticut politicians, especially Democrats, have voiced strong disagreement with Lamont.“With respect, the Governor is dead wrong on this,” wrote state Sen. Matt Lesser on social media. “The $600 a week has been a lifeline not just for families across the state - but for our economy as a whole. Our economy is hurting because of a global pandemic, not because people don’t want to work.”Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, told the CT Mirror, “Unemployment insurance is vital for workers and families and is certainly critical in the coming months as economic uncertainly remains. And research shows that the more money getting into the pockets of workers, the better to spur an economic recovery. I’m in full support of the extension as included in the Heroes Act.”AdvertisementPreliminary state unemployment data for May, released Thursday, shows that Connecticut recovered 25,800 nonagricultural jobs in May, a small fraction of the 269,200 lost in April. But private sector employment is still down by 15.4%. Leisure and hospitality, retail, and education and health services remained some of the hardest hit industries.While the Department of Labor estimated Connecticut’s unemployment rate to be 9.4%, it warned the figure was inaccurate and “severely underestimated” due to pandemic-related survey data problems, as well as issues with the Census Bureau’s Population Survey.Patrick Gourley, an assistant professor of economics at the University of New Haven, said he thought the $450 stipend was a “great way” to encourage those who are hesitant to reenter the workforce.“There’s always kind of a push and pull with unemployment benefits,” he said, suggesting that the government could keep the $600 per week program, while adding the caveat that benefits would be capped to equal a worker’s usual pre-pandemic salary.Advertisement“People are being short-sighted if they’re not going back to work when they can,” he said.Later on, if there is not work available, Gourley said people could get caught in a difficult situation without the federal benefit, especially if they became dependent on the extra income.As it happensGet the latest updates on Coronavirus and other breaking news events happening across Connecticut &gt; He added that the federal funds did not stimulate the economy as much as economists had anticipated, as many people chose to save the money instead of spend it. However, in the long run, it is not bad to have the increased savings rate, he said.Joe Brennan, president and CEO of Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said that while some previously laid off employees are returning to work, some business owners have mentioned issues getting staff back due to the extra $600.“Obviously there were good intentions behind it. We were in a terribly unprecedented time, and Congress wanted to help out people who were losing their jobs, so I certainly get the reason behind it,” he said. “It’s just now that we’re starting to open up and companies are trying to bring people back, it is a disincentive...which is obviously not what it’s intended to do, but we often have unintended consequences.”AdvertisementAs for the $450 return-to-work stipend, Brennan said he was aware the idea “has been kicked around for quite a while now at he national level.” However, he said he was not sure of its validity as a solution to the issue.“It’s more, I think, a compromise to try to get something passed through Congress. It going to cause some other problems too,” he said.Courant reporter Alex Putterman contributed to this report. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Hartford CourantJun 18, 2020 at 5:55 pmGov. Ned Lamont turned some heads this week, saying a $600 per week unemployment benefit offered to laid off and furloughed workers during the coronavirus pandemic does not need to be extended.Thursday, he backed a plan that has been supported in Congress by at least some Republican lawmakers that would pay workers $450 as an incentive to return to work. The $450 benefit, as proposed by Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, would be paid out weekly for an extended period of time for people once they secure a job.AdvertisementThis comes as the state’s...

Gov. Lamont supports plan to offer $450 stipend to people returning to work

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