Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Dems to introduce cybersecurity legislation for unemployment system
Democratic legislators say the first step in solving cybersecurity issues in the state unemployment system is admitting there’s a problem. State Reps. Jeffrey Crossman, D-Parma, and Lisa Sobecki, D-Toledo, say the state’s unemployment system “has compromised personal information and resulted in untold thousands of dollars stolen from deserving recipients” and that the Ohio Department of […]
New research: Broadband policy is jobs policy
It’s no secret that Ohio’s Appalachian counties have the most sluggish labor markets of the counties across the state. According to last month’s Ranking of Ohio County Unemployment Rates from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, eight of the ten highest-unemployment counties this month are in Appalachian Ohio. Meanwhile, Appalachian Ohio also suffers […]
Ohio has recovered $150 million in fraudulent unemployment claims
The director of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services recently announced the department is working with state and federal law enforcement to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment claims and billions more in overpayments that are not fraudulent in nature. From the beginning of the pandemic through May 2021, Ohio […]
Scrap tires and alcoholic bingo: The Ohio budget’s most obscure items
The new state budget allocates billions of dollars to necessary public services, but you have to flip to page 1,326 to find the part about buying to-go cocktails. Tucked between groundbreaking investments in broadband internet and children’s services, this provision lets Ohioans purchase drinks for “off-premises consumption,” so long as the drink is not any […]
Ohio Senate leadership wants no additional $ for broadband expansion
Lawmakers from both parties had been hopeful Ohio would take a big step forward this year to invest in broadband internet expansion throughout the state. Leaders in the Ohio Senate think otherwise. While their counterparts in the Ohio House of Representatives want to allocate millions of dollars for internet expansion projects, Republican state senators want […]
Ohio is still short-changing kids and caregivers
All children, no matter their race or where they come from, deserve a safe, stable, supportive home. Today, that’s not the reality for thousands of children in Ohio’s two-tiered foster care system. In violation of federal law, Ohio provides far less financial support to a child in state custody who is placed with a relative […]
As state law expires, proof of work search returns to unemployment benefits
As the pandemic continues to affect jobs in Ohio, state residents applying for new unemployment benefits will once again have to prove they’ve been looking for work to receive benefits. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services announced that any new unemployment applicants are required to conduct “work-search activities” unless quarantined or isolated for […]
Race, trauma and stigma training recommended for transformed Ohio children services
In looking to update the Ohio children services system, an advisory council empaneled by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said more training is needed, particularly when it comes to race, trauma and stigma. The final report of the Children Services Transformation Advisory Council was released recently, after meeting for the better part of a year and […]
Food stamp benefits available to eligible Ohio schoolchildren attending classes remotely
Thousands of Ohio children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school will soon receive money to buy food through the Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) announced last week. This funding was made possible by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a release said, […]
Some ideas for Gov. DeWine on how to help struggling Ohioans
In his Aug. 25 news conference Gov. Mike DeWine outlined some good work the state is initiating to expand COVID-19 testing in underserved communities — presumably including neighborhoods of Black and Latinx Ohioans and people with low incomes. He indicated he’s open to ideas about how to help all Ohioans — no matter where they […]
Official unemployment rate doesn’t capture enormity of COVID-19 labor force fallout
We know COVID-19 has hurt workers, especially service industry workers, hard. A recent poll of Ohio economists conducted by my firm found 38 of 40 economists think the economic fallout of COVID-19 will fall disproportionately on low- and middle-income families, with economists citing the labor market structure as the major culprit of this inequitable outcome. […]
Ohio unemployment dips down to 8.9% in July
Ohio’s unemployment rate was 8.9% in July 2020, down from a revised 11.0% in June, according to a release last week from the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 62,700 over the month, from a revised 5,038,400 in June to 5,101,100 in July 2020, the release said. […]