You could tie the unemployment checks to reskilling programs. E.g. you earn 20% more unemployment benefits if you sign up for one of these local programs to tea

You could tie the unemployment checks to reskilling programs. E.g. you earn 20% more unemployment benefits if you sign up for one of these local programs to teach you various skills that are actually in demand. Seems pretty straightforward - the hardest part is determining which skills are in demand, but anyone with a newspaper's job ads section in hand should be able to do that.