to work…instead of paying people
not to work,” Gov. Doug Ducey said.
The state will also provide $7.5 million for community college scholarships for currently unemployed workers who are eligible for the Return-to-Work bonuses — as well as $6 million for GED test preparation and exam fees for eligible workers without a high school diploma.
Benefit causing labor shortage
Restaurants, stores and other businesses around the country have complained that the $300 a week in extra unemployment benefits included in federal coronavirus legislation disincentivizes workers to get back on the job.
“We have flooded the zone with checks that I’m sure everybody loves to get, and also enhanced unemployment,” U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky. recently told the Washington Post. “And what I hear from business people, hospitals, educators, everybody across the state all week is, regretfully, it’s actually more lucrative for many Kentuckians and Americans to not work than work."