LOUISVILLE, Ky. — When Gov. Andy Beshear announced the creation of Kentucky’s $1,500 return-to-work incentive in June, he said he believed the payment would amount to a “very strong incentive” for Kentuckians to move off of unemployment insurance and back into the workforce. 

But two weeks after applications for the incentive opened, just over 200 people have applied for the $1,500 payments. Nearly 400 more have begun, but not completed applications.

What You Need To Know

  • The application for Kentucky's return-to-work incentive has been live for two weeks

  • Just over 200 people have applied in that time

  • The program, which promises $1,500 to those who took a job between June 23 and July 30, could accommodate 15,000 people

  • Applications for the incentive must be in by Oct. 1

The 206 completed applications represent 1.37% of the 15,000 people who could take advantage of the incentive, given the $22.5 million in CARES Act funding the state set aside for the program. And it’s not a given that all of those who have completed the application will get paid.

“Filing the application is not acceptance. It’s simply filing,” said Sherelle Roberts, spokesperson for the Public Protection Cabinet, which is administering the program. "After Oct. the 4th we will begin processing all of the applications, and then, those who qualify will receive awards."

In order to quality for the incentive, an applicant must have reentered the workforce between June 24 and July 30 and had an active unemployment claim at the time. They must also have gone to work for a Kentucky business, be over 18 years of age, and logged at least 120 hours over the first five weeks after their hiring. 

The incentive received praise when it was announced from some Kentucky businesses and leaders of business groups, including Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI) President Sarah Davasher-Wisdom.

Asked this week about the effect of the incentive, Davasher-Wisdom said GLI is in favor of “all efforts to support businesses through their recovery and get people back to work.” She added: “This is a complex issue with multiple causes. Therefore, we must also address underlying problems and fix the chronic issues that have continually hindered our workforce.”

Many Kentucky Republicans criticized the incentive program after its announcement. House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, called it "just another example of state government using taxpayer dollars to pick winners and losers."

"Not only is paying people $1,500 to get a job extremely insulting to those who have worked throughout this pandemic, it defies logic that they would choose to do so as long as the additional federal payments are available,” he said. 

Beshear’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for a comment, but on July 29 the governor told reporters that the program was proving a success.

“We believe our back-to-work incentive is working,” he said, citing the 7,000 of people who had left the pandemic unemployment rolls since the program began.

“Anecdotally, we've seen dozens of employers talk about how they had a pickup in their applications,” he added.

As Roberts pointed out though, there's not a correlation between the number of people who have left unemployment and the return-to-work incentive. "Many more people have come off of unemployment than have filed for the incentive," she said. 

Applicants can apply to for the return-to-work incentive at this website. 

Related Stories