A new committee of lawmakers meets for the first time Thursday to study Ohio’s unemployment compensation system. Members will see whether the jobless benefits system for workers is sustainable.
The committee, made up of both House and Senate members, will look for ways to reform the state’s unemployment compensation system. Committee co-chair Bob Peterson, a Senate Republican, says the group will determine the system’s viability.
“It certainly has its challenges,” Peterson says.
Peterson says that Ohio had to borrow millions from the federal government to pay unemployment claims as a result of the great recession.
“We don’t want to get back in the position of owing the federal government and having to pay penalties on top of owing the federal government so that’s why the reform piece – the 2nd half of solving the problem – is so important,” Peterson says.
Peterson says 98 cents of every dollar that comes in is spent. And that, he says, is not sustainable.