Ohio Will End Extra $300 In Federal Unemployment Benefits

Unemployed Ohioans will no longer receive an extra $300 a week in federal pandemic unemployment benefits come June 26th, Governor DeWine announced on Thursday.

Business owners and lawmakers alike have said that the additional assistance in some cases is discouraging people from returning to work.

DeWine said, early on in the pandemic, Congress put in place the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program to help Americans get through the most difficult economic days of the crisis.

He said, when the program was put in place, it was a lifeline for many Americans at a time when the only weapon we had in fighting the virus was to slow its spread through social distancing, masking, and sanitization.

“That is no longer the case. That is no longer our only tool in this fight. This assistance was always intended to be temporary.”

DeWine said his administration will inform the U.S. Department of Labor that we intend to stop participation in the program on June 26th.

Doug Baker, the owner of Wilson’s in Findlay, told WFIN he believed the extra benefits were at least partly to blame for his worker shortage.

His restaurant went to dine-on only on May 3rd because he didn’t have enough workers to man the dining room.