It鈥檚 thought that if the state went into a recession now, its unemployment compensation fund wouldn鈥檛 be able to pay laid-off workers for more than a few weeks. But there鈥檚 still been no progress on a bill that鈥檚 touted as a way to fix the fund. These hearings have become routine with many still waiting for action.
A House committee held its 20th hearing on that would try to bring the state鈥檚 unemployment compensation fund to solvency.
The measure has been criticized by business and labor groups but so far there have been no changes.
Don Boyd with the Ohio Chamber of Commerce says the bill puts too much burden on employers to pay into the pot while not doing enough to cut from the spending side.
鈥淚f nothing gets done, if nothing gets passed, benefits will stay exactly the same and at the end of the day that doesn鈥檛 provide a whole lot of incentive for the other side to negotiate on a lot of these issues,鈥� said Boyd.
But the AFL-CIO contends that, while the bill raises employer taxes, it still sits far below the national average of what businesses pay and says benefit costs are not the main contributor to the fund鈥檚 insolvency.
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