{"id":46683,"date":"2021-05-20T10:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-offers-up-to-1600-to-unemployed-people-who-find-full-time-work\/"},"modified":"2021-05-20T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T16:40:00","slug":"colorado-offers-up-to-1600-to-unemployed-people-who-find-full-time-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-offers-up-to-1600-to-unemployed-people-who-find-full-time-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado offers up to $1,600 to unemployed people who find full-time work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A now-hiring sign is outside the Corner Bakery Cafe at the Streets of Southglenn mall in Centennial. (Tamara Chuang\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span>Tamara Chuang\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Start a full-time job by May 29, stick with it for two months and get a $1,600 signing bonus from Colorado. That\u2019s the new message Gov. Jared Polis began promoting Wednesday to Coloradans on unemployment.<\/p>\n

But the new Colorado Jumpstart Program incentive has some disqualifiers even for jobless workers who end up with full-time work in the next 10 days. Gig workers aren\u2019t eligible, nor are unemployed workers who\u2019ve moved out of the state. Those who get a job between May 30 and June 26 can qualify for a $1,200 bonus.<\/p>\n

Part of the goal is to help the state\u2019s local businesses, Polis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPowering the comeback means supporting Coloradans getting back to work and our businesses as they expand,\u201d Polis said in a written statement. \u201cWe know that getting back to work doesn\u2019t mean all the financial challenges Coloradans are facing just disappear, and we want to ensure that as more people are returning to the workforce, we are setting them up for success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Employers across the state have found it difficult to fill openings in recent months, a hiring trend that\u2019s being felt by businesses across the nation. On Tuesday, Colorado officials said they will continue to participate in federal unemployment programs until they expire on Sept. 6. At least 21 states nationwide have announced they will end their federal unemployment benefits early.<\/p>\n

The latest survey of Colorado Restaurant Association members revealed that 90% had difficulty hiring for the summer patio season, said Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the trade group.<\/p>\n

\u201c(There) are incredible opportunities for hospitality-minded workers to join the industry, at all levels,\u201d she said in an email. \u201cWages are higher than ever and benefits are becoming a more common part of restaurant compensation, including mental health and wellness programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether there\u2019s an actual labor shortage is up for debate. Some workers say that the jobs they see advertised are lower-paying, service-level positions that don\u2019t offer enough to cover their rent and other bills. Businesses face competition from other employers that are reopening and from larger chains, like Amazon, that can pay a higher wage.<\/p>\n

Some businesses say they can\u2019t find workers because unemployed people receiving federal benefits have less incentive to return to work because they may be making more money collecting a government check. And there are ongoing health concerns for staff members, which is preventing some workers from going back to a full-time job.<\/p>\n

The number of Coloradans on unemployment has been shrinking each week. But the state Department of Labor and Employment estimated that as of May 1 more than 162,000 Coloradans were still collecting unemployment. CDLE officials say that there are about 138,000 potential people eligible for the Jumpstart incentive.<\/p>\n

On the state\u2019s job board on Wednesday, there were more than 101,000 jobs available. Local companies and national ones can submit their job openings to the site free.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis won\u2019t just help Coloradans, it\u2019s going to help businesses to have a productive workforce, ready to power our economy and comeback,\u201d CDLE Executive Director Joe Barela said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Polis, in the executive order creating the Jumpstart program, plans to tap into the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment\u2019s Coronavirus Relief Fund and move $500,000 to CDLE to provide the $1,600 incentive to workers. That means there\u2019s enough funding for 312 people, but that could be extended, said Jessica Hudgins Smith, press secretary for the Division of Unemployment Insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe executive order will be extended every 30 days after we have determined the number of claimants who have opted into the program, after which time there will be a funds transfer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The program is open to unemployed workers who have had their identity verified by the state\u2019s ID.me service. It\u2019s also only open to those who have collected at least one week of regular state unemployment or those on Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, between March 28 and May 16.<\/p>\n

PEUC, which pays benefits for an additional 53 weeks after regular state benefits run out, is paid from federal money.<\/p>\n

People on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or gig workers, do not qualify because they are paid from federal money. Those benefits don\u2019t affect the state\u2019s Unemployment Trust Fund, which ran out of money last August. Colorado has so far borrowed more than $1 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n

The trust fund relies on insurance payments from Colorado employers, which is why unemployment benefits are available for most Coloradans. Employers face higher insurance premiums to pay back the federal loans, Barela said.<\/p>\n

The Jumpstart incentive, which is paid in two installments, also requires people to return to a full-time job between May 16 and June 26. The $1,600 bonus is only for those who start work between May 16 and May 29. The bonus drops to $1,200 if the full-time job starts between May 30 and June 26. The dates are based on how the unemployment office determines a week\u2019s worth of work, which ends on a Saturday.<\/p>\n

Workers who meet the eligibility criteria must report their new job and wages to CDLE online through their MyUI+ accounts. They must also opt-in to the Colorado Jumpstart Program.<\/p>\n

Workers become eligible for a first payment after four weeks of full-time work and the total incentive after eight weeks of full-time work. The first payments won\u2019t be made until July.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to help small businesses that can\u2019t find enough employees<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,819,28,29,4549],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-unemployment"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46683"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}