Ohio Needs Unemployment Benefits Renewal

16/02/10

Ohio is ranked 8th worst state for joblessness requiring renewal of unemployment benefits

The National Employment Law Project (NELP), which conducted a national and state-by-state estimate of workers who will have no funds to keep them afloat until they can find a job if Congress does not enact an extension of unemployment insurance benefits included in the ARRA that expires at the end of February, showed that 1.2 million American workers will be left stranded by March, and that about 5 million Americans will experience the same fate by June.

In the state of Ohio 49,620 workers will have exhausted both their regular state benefits and exhausted their federal benefits. Come June 2010, that figures is expected to expand to 206,050, which if it were city would be larger than Dayton (166,179) but slightly smaller than Akron (217,000). Imagine those numbers.
Last November, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services announced the signing of a law by President Obama that extended unemployment compensation benefits so that eligible jobless Ohioans may receive up to an additional 20 weeks of benefits.

With Unemployment in Ohio, now at 10.7 percent, is the highest since the early 1980s.Long-term unemployment is entrenched and has surpassed previous recessions. Starting on February 19th, state agencies that administer unemployment benefits will be forced to notify workers that the program will be shut down by the end of month, as required by federal law. Thus, if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the programs before their recess on February 12th, this deadline will create chaos for the state agencies and workers facing an uncertain future.Extended unemployment benefits program is funded 50 percent by states after ARRA expires. The trigger for the program is 6.5 percent unemployment and increasing unemployment expected to remain in effect through June 2010.

New jobs bill could be vehicle for new jobless benefit extension

Reports on the content of a new jobs package bill said central piece of the plan would exempt companies from paying the employer’s share of Social Security payroll taxes for new hires — as long as those people had been unemployed at least 60 days.
A recent Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the idea could create up to 18 jobs per $1 million in tax relief, a more efficient way to boost hiring than provisions in last year’s $862 billion economic stimulus bill, experts said. The $10 billion plan could create perhaps 50,000 to 90,000 jobs through September and another 80,000 to 180,000 jobs next year.

If you are collecting unemployment, or know someone who is, then this is something you should be worried about. YOU must act to either contact your representative by https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

or contact U.S. House of Representatives directly.