Proposed legislation would cut the maximum number of weeks that Ohioans can receive unemployment benefits.
House Bill 376, sponsored by state Rep. Michelle Teska, R-Clearcreek Township, would reduce the number of weeks to 20, down from the current 26 weeks allowed. A dozen Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors.
While the bill was introduced last month, it has not yet had a committee hearing.
“We don’t have any thoughts or additional information on it at this time,” the Norwalk Reflector quoted Bill Teets, communications director for the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, as saying.
Two lawmakers the Norwalk Reflector contacted — Rep. Kellie Deeter, R-Norwalk, and D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron — did not respond for comment.
According to the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services, which oversees unemployment benefits, Ohioans are eligible for unemployment benefits if they are unemployed or working fewer hours due to no fault of their own. How much recipients receive depends on various factors, such as their previous earnings.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said that 7,063 Ohioans filed initial unemployment claims for the week ending July 5. That tally was 1,799 more than the previous week.
State officials said that roughly 679 of those filings were flagged for “more stringent identity verification” to confirm they are not fraudulent.
Additionally, state officials said that 48,913 Ohioans filed continued unemployment claims during the week. That total was 578 fewer than the previous week.
The total number of claims filed from June 29 to July 5 was 55,976.
The Buckeye State’s unemployment rate in May was 4.9%, while the national unemployment rate in May was 4.2%. The state’s labor force participation rate in May was 62.7%, which was slightly better than the national rate of 62.4% in May.
The state shared the statistics with the U.S. Department of Labor.
A WalletHub analysis released earlier this month found that Ohio was among the states that did not see lower unemployment claims than during the previous week. In a ranking of states where unemployment claims are decreasing the most, the Buckeye State ranked 34th.
“Unemployment rates, which have stayed in a reasonable range for some time now, have never fully reflected the state of the job market, and that continues to be the case,” Joyce Jacobsen, professor of economics at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Wesleyan University, told WalletHub for its report. “In particular, discouraged workers and underemployed workers, including the many workers who do not utilize fully their formal training, are not reflected.
“The current job market is less about high unemployment and more about structural issues, such as the mismatch between what skills employers are looking for and what skills potential workers have,” Jacobsen added. “The issue for many younger and even middle-aged workers is also the inability to find a single well-paying job with full benefits, leading more workers to hold multiple part-time positions and short-term gigs.”
