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By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch
Post
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. —&nbsp;The additional $600 that federal authorities are providing for unemployment through July is useful in getting people to stay home. The concern is, if the pandemic's danger is reduced before that time, there may be some incentives that make it tougher on businesses."We're going to have a very, very difficult time, especially for smaller businesses that can't afford to pay enough to match what people are making on unemployment," said Phil Kerpen, an American free-market policy analyst with American Commitment. "They're going to have a very difficult time getting back up off the ground, even when things do open up again."Part of the issue is that those who couldn't initially get Paycheck Protection Program funds and then ask their people back may not get the answer they are looking for."In order to qualify for the loan forgiveness, the conversion of the loan to a grant, businesses have to maintain their head count, I think they have to maintain 90% or something like that," Kerpen said. "That could be difficult if you're calling people that you're trying to return from furlough and they're saying, you know, I'm making more, can you match what I'm getting on unemployment, or that kind of thing."The employer could call the unemployment office and tell them that they offered the person a job that they turned down, but most won't want to be the bad guy, or frankly have time to do it."Democrats said they did this on purpose," Kerpen said. "We want unemployment to pay more than work. Republicans were sort of shocked by that. In the Senate, they thought it was a mistake. When the bill first came out, they said, oh, there's a drafting error here, you've accidentally not limited unemployment to 100 percent of wages, as you had said in your talking points you wanted to do and the Democrats said, oh no, that's no mistake, we wanted to do it this way."That's a source of frustration for those who are going to work, some of them as front line workers at grocery stores or in healthcare that are getting paid less to put themselves at risk than they would make on unemployment. $600 a week, which is the federal addition to the state benefit, is $15 an hour for a 40-hour week.

Kerpen: Unemployment plan may last too long for small businesses