YakTriNews.com
May 11, 2021 3:09 PM Melissa Luck
AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File
BOISE, Idaho – Citing comments from Idaho business owners who are struggling to hire right now, Governor Brad Little said Tuesday the state will end participation in three federal pandemic unemployment compensation programs.
Beginning June 19, Idaho workers will no longer get: $300 per week from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Fund; benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program that helps those who typically don’t qualify for unemployment; and funds through Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, which extend benefits once regular benefits have been exhausted.
“Employers are telling me one of the big reasons they cannot recruit and retain some workers is because those employees are receiving more on unemployment than they would while working,” Gov. Little said in a statement online. “We see ‘Help Wanted’ signs everywhere. Idaho h
BOISE â Gov. Brad Little announced today Idaho will end its participation in three federal pandemic unemployment compensation programs to help employers get workers back on the job.
âEmployers are telling me one of the big reasons they cannot recruit and retain some workers is because those employees are receiving more on unemployment than they would while working. We see âHelp Wantedâ signs everywhere. Idaho has the strongest economy in the nation, and we are a top 10 state for best employment, but there is more we can do. Itâs time to get back to work,â Little said. âMy decision is based on a fundamental conservative principle â we do not want people on unemployment. We want people working. A strong economy cannot exist without workers returning to a job.â
Workers with mixed income sources get new jobless benefit
State agency begins taking applications from wage earners with self-employment work.
A new federal program run by the Oregon Employment Department will pay unemployment benefits to people who earned money from regular jobs and also self-employment.
The state agency began accepting applications for what is known as the Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation program, the sixth such program Congress has created since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.
Acting Director David Gerstenfeld said the program was created in response to workers who earned wages and were eligible for regular benefits from the state unemployment trust fund, but whose outside income from self-employment did not count toward any additional benefits.