Here’s a quick quiz to get the week started…

Here’s a quick quiz to get the week started…

1. What does Michigan have that Ohio doesn’t?
2. What do Texas, Massachusetts, California, and the Virgin Islands have in common? (hint: It’s not the weather.)
3. What does $943,445,837 represent?

May I have the envelope please?

1. According to the United States Department of Labor, a solvent unemployment insurance trust fund as of January 1, 2019.
2. The only four state funds with a lower unemployment insurance trust fund rating than Ohio.
3. Ohio’s unemployment insurance trust fund balance as of January 1, 2019. To put this in perspective, Ohio borrowed nearly $3.4B from the federal government since 2008 to pay benefits that Ohio’s system could not provide on its own.

When, not if, another recession hits our economy, Ohio will likely be forced to again borrow from the federal government in order to pay benefits. It cost Ohio employers hundreds of millions of dollars in additional taxes over nearly a decade in order to repay the last loan. That is why it is so important for our legislators to find a balanced solution, sooner rather than later, for our unemployment insurance system. 

The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 2019-2020 public policy agenda calls on legislators to implement a long-term solvency solution to the state’s unemployment compensation system. We look forward to working with them to make this a reality.