New Jersey businesses could receive tax credits for hiring jobless workers next year, under a new bill to fight pandemic unemployment.

More than 1.8 million New Jersey workers have filed for unemployment benefits since the governor effectively shut down the state in mid-March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Federal unemployment benefits for the more than 480,000 workers expire at the end of the year.

Unemployment claims surged in March and April as businesses were ordered to shut their doors, with weeky claims briefly topping 200,000 per week. In the week ending Nov. 28, the most recent data available, another 13,542 workers in the Garden State filed new unemployment claims.

“This tax credit will target those businesses most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the service and entertainment industries,” “Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez, D-Camden, said in a statement. “Our hope is that through this program, we can assist businesses so that they can remain open without laying off as many employees.”

Cruz-Perez sponsored the bill alongside Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester.

The bill, S2251, creating the New Jobs for New Jersey Act, would offer businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees credits against the gross income tax or corporation business tax liabilities for hiring unemployed workers full time after April 1. Eligible new hires must have been out of work for at least 30 days and have no history of employment with their new employer, according to the bill.

To qualify, the average number of full-time workers employed at a business during the tax year it is applying for tax credits must be higher than the average number of full-time workers it had on its payroll in the 12 months leading up to April 1, according to the bill.

The size of the refundable tax credit would be based on the payroll taxes paid by the employer for each the newly hired worker.

The Senate Labor Committee approved the bill 4-0 on Tuesday.

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Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com.