OESC Breaks Down $1,200 Back-To-Work Incentive

Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Monday he will be ending pandemic-related federal unemployment assistance for Oklahomans.

Oklahomans who find work can now apply to get a back-to-work incentive payment of $1,200.

This one-time payment is only available to the first 20,000 people who get a full-time job. The executive director of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) told News 9 as things are starting to open it is time to refocus their efforts on re-employment.

The state of Oklahoma is joining a number of red states who are ending their pandemic-related unemployment relief.

“The federal government has created an incentive to stay at home instead of getting back into the workforce,” said Stitt.

OESC has created the back-to-work incentive for those who have an active unemployment claim at the start of May who can find a full-time job.

“Right now, we have around 200,000 people that are workforce eligible that have not returned to the workforce, that is a considerable amount of people. We actually have 37% more job openings in the state than we did pre-pandemic,” said Shelley Zumwalt, the OESC executive director.

She said these jobs are full time and part time opportunities. In order to qualify for the one-time payment people must work 32-40 hours a week and be employed for at least six weeks by the same employer.

“It started yesterday May 17th, it goes through September 4th and claimants can start applying on June 28th,” she said.

When applications open people will need a current paystub as proof of employment. Currently the agency is hosting job fairs across Oklahoma. Zumwalt hopes this incentive encourages more people to come out.

“We really haven’t seen the turnout we were hoping to. In Oklahoma City we had them yesterday and today and we had over 7,500 job openings, yet Monday we only had about 360 people show up,” Zumwalt said.

People who qualify for the program in June should expect their payments by mid-July.