The first round of $1,000 bonus payments will go out this week to participants in the Back to Work CT program.
Back to Work CT pays out bonuses to Connecticut residents who have experienced long-term unemployment, and are transitioning back to the workforce. The initial round of payments will reach about 1,500 eligible residents, Gov. Ned Lamont said yesterday.
“This one-time bonus payment will help some of those workers pay for the critical things they need to get back to work, including childcare,” Lamont said. “This is the latest tool in our toolbox to maximize our state’s recovery from the pandemic.”
Payments are supported through the state Coronavirus Relief Fund, which utilizes federal funding obtained through the CARES Act that passed Congress last year.
The state allocated about $10 million for the Back to Work CT program, which will eventually provide bonus payments to as many as 10,000 people, Lamont’s office said. Payments are administered through the state’s Department of Revenue Services and Department of Labor.
The program is scheduled to end Dec. 31.
Employment figures in Connecticut have been improving in recent months, but still trail national numbers.
The state added 9,400 non-farm jobs in July, the state’s most robust performance in months, bringing the official unemployment rate down from 7.9% to 7.3%. As of July, the national unemployment rate was 5.4%.
However, Connecticut has now recovered 196,400 — or 67.2% — of the 292,400 jobs lost during the pandemic lockdowns of March and April 2020, state labor officials reported.