KENTUCKY — Even with the measures Beshear administration put into place to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives, Gov. Andy Beshsear (D) says the Commonwealth has been able to maintain economic momentum by continuing to attract projects into the state and create good-paying jobs.
During this In Focus Kentucky segment, Beshear also adds that he is considering ending the weekly $300 federal unemployment payment eventually, but said that doesn’t mean we will.
"We're still looking at the economics of it. We're hearing from business owners and others and maybe you'd be surprised, but there's a lot out there that get it. I was talking to somebody that owns a number of different types of companies but owns grocery stores and says, Yes, we were working hard to get people back in the workforce, but our grocery stores will be hurt, because people are using this to buy food and we want everybody to have enough food. So it's about getting it right and now we're working on a program to get people back to work without it being a punitive push to do," says Gov. Beshear
The Governor also says he is trying to “thread the needle” of maintaining the extra federal payments that adds millions of dollars into Kentucky's economy each week, while still encouraging people to go back to work as the economy fully reopens.
"Well you know that's something people throw out there, but let's, let's get more nuanced than that. A lot of people haven't gone back to work because they're just now getting fully vaccinated and we can understand that. When you look at when the vaccinations became fully available, it's taken about a month and two weeks after. There's a lot of Kentuckians that lost their child care during this period of time and we have got to rebuild that infrastructure around them. There are some folks that were already living in poverty, working at jobs that also exposed them a lot, that are looking for a better job and who can't begrudge that. So there are a lot of factors that we're all working on at the same time to get people back," explains Gov. Beshear.
The Governor also announced that year-to-date, businesses have announced the planned and ongoing creation of nearly 2,750 full-time, Kentucky-resident jobs. According to the Governor's office, that figure nearly doubles the 1,430 jobs announced throughout the same span in 2020. In total, businesses announced plans for 33 projects in Kentucky comprising nearly $1.5 billion in planned investment in addition to the more than 2,700 jobs.
Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings improved Kentucky's overall financial outlook to stable, reflecting the Commonwealth’s economic recovery.
The state’s April sales tax receipts also set an all-time monthly record at $486.5 million, as did vehicle usage tax receipts at over $64 million.