BOISE, Idaho — Now that the Gem State is starting to reopen, businesses are needing to hire people back and Idaho Governor Brad Little wants to give a $1,500 bonus to get people back in the workforce to help that process along.
The plan would give a one-time cash bonus of $1,500 to people returning to full-time work, and $750 to people returning to part-time work.
In a press conference on Monday, the governor defended his plan from his critics. He said the point of it is to get people off unemployment benefits and back to working at their jobs.
“It is so important for people to not be in the habit of not going to work,” he said. “Every person that has studied big economic calamities said people get in the habit of not going to work, you need every incentive to get back to work.”
People on unemployment are getting an extra $600 a week, thanks to the CARES Act. This is on top of their state unemployment benefits. This extra money though is keeping people on unemployment instead of returning to the workforce, according to Little.
“Because of the generous amounts that are in the unemployment, particularly the add on,” the Republican governor said. “There were some businesses having a hard time getting people back to work, so we put together a program that is an incentive to get back to work.”
KTVB spoke to some folks in downtown Boise on Monday to get their thoughts on the cash-bonus incentive.
One man didn’t want to give his full name but went by TJ. He was standing on 8th Street holding a sign that said he hadn’t been paid since late March and was asking people to help him out. His sign also read that he had filed for unemployment back in March but hadn’t received any money yet.
“I just want what I'm owed from unemployment, the bonus to me is not going to sway me one way or the other,” he said. “Am I going to turn down the money if the government offers it to me, would you?”
TJ told KTVB he doesn’t have a job waiting for him yet, so he isn’t one of the people turning down work to make more money on unemployment.
He also thinks the money should go to a different set of workers.
“Everybody who has had a job, supermarket workers, all of those people that stayed on their job through this time should get the money first,” he said. “There are so many people. The janitor in the hospital, he should get that money. All those people that do things we don't realize.”
He wasn’t the only one in downtown who wasn’t a fan of the program.
“The benefit of producing and contributing to society and feeling I've done something is much more worthwhile than any government subsidy,” said Andrea Icaza.
The program is going to cost the state $100 million, which will pull funds from the federal aid Idaho received under the CARES Act. Idaho received $1.25 billion from the federal government and Icaza thinks this $100 million would be better spent elsewhere.
“In my own personal opinion, I would say yeah spend it on something else,” she said. “Believe the best in people that we do want to work, that we want to earn our own money. We don’t need to have a carrot in front of us.”
Laura Baarson, a Canyon County resident visiting downtown, told KTVB that he is a fan of the program though.
“I think it was a great idea, I told my daughters about it right away,” she said. “My husband and I don't qualify for anything like that, but I do have kids in Idaho, and I made sure they were all aware of it.”
She added that she believes that if too much is given to people without earning it, it becomes a detriment to people and their integrity.
“A handout all the time of unemployment, welfare, food, where you don't have to work for what you have in life, makes us not appreciate,” she said.
She views the $1,500 as a handout but said it has a purpose as well.
“It just kind of pads you as you're going back to work waiting for those paychecks to start rolling in,” she said.
Gov. Brad said himself the plan doesn’t look fair. Although, he talked about the effects a recession can have on a community.
“It impacts everybody, it impacts your businesses, it impacts your demand,” he said. “Every expert on a big recession says you have got to jump-start the people. You've got to get people that are off the payrolls back onto the payrolls.”
He is still working on the plan with the Idaho Development Workforce Council. They are working this week on who will be eligible for the plan and how to apply.
That information is expected to be released on June 15.
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