Ohio ending $300 weekly unemployment bump

The change will affect unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of Ohioans receiving unemployment. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Thursday reported Ohioans filed 231,915 continued jobless claims last week, as well as 178,583 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Claims. There were 19,926 new claims filed.

But as jobless claims have declined and Ohio’s economy started recovering from the pandemic, many employers are reporting issues finding workers, the governor said.

“It’s having a real impact on Ohio’s ability to fully recover and to come back as strong as humanly possible,” DeWine said.

By waiting until June 26, Ohioans will have time to prepare and get vaccinated before going back to work.

“Thankfully, under the governor’s steady hand during this pandemic he’s protected lives and livelihoods,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. “We have a recovering economy where employers are creating jobs faster than we can provider the workforce to fill them.”

The state’s OhioMeansJobs website lists 181,472 job openings across the state.

But Ohio has 295,000 fewer jobs than in February 2020, before the pandemic, according to Policy Matters Ohio, arguing it’s too early to end the $300 subsidy.

“People still waiting for child care to become available, those in communities with low vaccination rates, and people who live in communities where jobs are still scarce, still need support,” said Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert. “Pulling the (unemployment) supplement ignores the challenges thousands of Ohioans still face.”

Earlier this week, ODJFS announced it is also reinstating the requirement that people on unemployment document that they are actively searching for a job, starting the week of May 23.

Rea S. Hederman Jr., vice president of policy at the Buckeye Institute, applauded the decision to end the weekly $300 payments.

“Withdrawing from this program — which The Buckeye Institute recommended — is another sign that Ohio is recovering from the pandemic and it will encourage workers to return to the labor market and fill the tens of thousands of job vacancies we have across the state,” Hederman said.