Keystone Today

The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel for businesses looking to hire new employees may be in their sights, as recent reports indicate that the removal of extra unemployment benefits are incentivizing people to return to work.

With much of the economy opening back up after the COVID-19-related closures, small businesses all across the country are seeing increased demand for services. And in turn, those companies are displaying "Now Hiring" signs in their windows, marquees, online and just about anywhere they can potentially find a reliable employee.   

A recent CNBC report showed that online job searches jumped up by 5% in the two dozen states that had announced they will end the extra $300 a week in federal unemployment insurance early.

Gov. Tom Wolf | Governor.PA.gov

The author of the study noted that the jump was "temporary." However, it provides some evidence to critics who say that the extra unemployment benefits have been incentivizing people to stay home and avoid finding a job.

“We don’t know yet what the effect, if any, might be on hiring volumes  or wages,” Jed Kolko, chief economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab and author of the report, told CNBC. “This is really a first indicator at what effect the early curtailing of the federal benefits might look like.”

For some business owners, finding adequate staffing could be matter of economic survival.

A recent poll published by the Foundation for Government Accountability found that 73% of business owners surveyed said that they've had difficulty hiring people in the past few months, and 59% said it has been "very difficult." Seventy percent of respondents said there was greater than a 50% chance that their business would have to close within the next year due to an inability to hire enough employees.

The FGA poll also indicated that 65% of business owners believed the extra $300 in federal unemployment insurance has been making it more difficult for them to hire new workers.

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) seems to be trying to find a compromise between those in dire need of the benefits and those who should be applying for a job.

Wolf says that the state will continue accepting the extra federal unemployment benefits and will not end participation before the September end date, according to Dauphin News. However, the average worker in Pennsylvania would actually end up making more money by staying unemployed and collecting the extra benefits than they would by being employed.

Despite his resistance to ending the federal unemployment benefits, Wolf has announced that Pennsylvania will reinstate the job-search requirement for collecting unemployment, starting in July, according to the Philly Leader.