The fund that pays benefits to unemployed workers in Ohio is more than a billion dollars in debt to the federal government, but there may be a fix in the works.
Most states borrowed from the feds to pay jobless benefits during the recession. Zach Schiller at the think tank Policy Matters Ohio has been studying this for years, and recently put out another warning about it.
“While we’ve reduced it somewhat, the natural financing of the unemployment system is not going to be enough to repay that debt, much less build a new reserve for the next recession.”
Schiller says this report is timed with the news that Republican Rep. Barbara Sears of northwest Ohio is planning to introduce legislation early next year that she says will bring in more revenue with a lower tax rate because of penalties being paid by employers.
