Work search rule returns amid hiring crunch

Jun. 14—BOSTON — Workers getting unemployment in Massachusetts are again required to prove they're searching for a job, as the state seeks to ease a hiring crunch.

Gov. Charlie Baker, who relaxed the rules last year amid the pandemic, brought back the work-search requirement for those in federal and state jobless programs. Under the rules, anyone getting jobless benefits must prove their efforts to find a "suitable" new job.

Business groups welcomed the changes, saying stricter rules are needed to help get people off unemployment and fill a glut of vacant positions.

"Businesses are really struggling to find workers right now," said Chris Carlozzi, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. "This will help incentivize getting people back to work, and normalize the state by getting us back to where we were economically before the pandemic."

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the work-search requirement "isn't a silver bullet" to solve the state's post-pandemic labor shortage, but it will give some people a nudge.

"It will help get some folks back into the job search mode," he said. "We desperately need to fill job vacancies as consumer demand begins to grow."

The return of the requirement comes amid improving public health metrics and as most of the state's pandemic-related restrictions are lifted. A state of emergency, set by Baker last March, expired at midnight Tuesday.

Massachusetts paid out nearly $6 billion in jobless benefits last year as hundreds of thousands of workers were sidelined amid government shutdowns.

The state's unemployment rate, which at 16.4% was among the highest in the country last spring, dropped to 6.5% in April, with the addition of more than 5,100 jobs.

That's much less than the 12,800 jobs created in the previous month, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Massachusetts reported 8,024 new applications for jobless benefits in the week that ended May 5 — a decline of 374 claims from the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal benefit for workers who don't qualify for state benefits, and other federal jobless programs were extended until September under a $1.9 trillion relief bill signed in March by President Joe Biden. It includes a $300 weekly payment.

Employers say the coupling of state and federal benefits has given some workers more than they would typically earn, making it hard to bring people back to work.

Business leaders have called on Baker to join other states in ending participation in the federal programs and to stop distributing the $300 weekly benefit.

They've also asked the state to put the federal relief money toward hiring bonuses to help lure workers back to their jobs.

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for The Salem News and its sister newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.