Would cash bonuses speed the return to work of unemployed people? A state department of labor notes that last year 41% of people who filed claims for unemployment insurance found a new job within 15 weeks. As an experiment, the state offers $500 to people filing unemployment claims if they find a job within 15 weeks. The percent who find a job increases to 53%. Select the condition(s) that might make it easier or harder to find a job this year as opposed to last year. Confounding with these lurking variables makes it impossible to say whether the treatment really caused the increase. The general state of the economy. An individual's age. A company's profit margin. An individual's health. Hiring costs to companies.