On March 18th, President Obama signed into law the “Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment” (HIRE) Act.

Essentially, this bill is a tax break for businesses:

1. If a company hires a worker who has been employed for at least 60 days, the company will not have to pay the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax during 2010.

2. If the new employee is retained for at least one year, the company will receive an additional $1,000 tax credit.

Theoretically, these tax breaks should encourage businesses to hire more workers.

The total cost of the bill is estimated to be $18 billion.

While the current focus of Congress is on healthcare, over 15 million Americans are still waiting for legislation regarding unemployment extensions and COBRA benefits. Hopefully, this should be on the horizon before the end of March.