New Jersey Announces Nation’s First RETURN-to-Work Program

On September 15, 2009, Governor Jon Corzine announced The RETURN (Re-Employment Training for Unemployed Residents of New Jersey)-to-Work program, designed to provide job creation incentives for workers who have exhausted all state and federal unemployment insurance benefits. The program will offer “on-the-job” training grants to help employers cover the costs of training newly hired employees. Employers would receive up to $2,400 for each newly hired employee. In exchange, the employers must provide jobs that pay at least $15 per hour and must retain the new workers for at least six months. 

Note: This article was published in the October 2009 issue of the New Jersey eAuthority.