Ohio will unenroll from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program in June, Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Thursday.
The FPUC program extended an additional $300 per week in unemployment insurance as a way to offset the effects of the pandemic.
“When this 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 it’s spread through social distancing, masking, and sanitization,” DeWine said in a statement on Twitter. “That is no longer the case. That is no longer our only tool in this fight. This assistance was always intended to be temporary.”
When this 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 it’s spread through social distancing, masking, and sanitization.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 13, 2021
My administration will inform the U.S. Department of Labor that we intend to stop participation in this program on June 26, 2021.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 13, 2021
DeWine pointed to Ohio residents being unwilling to return to work as a reason for removing the state from the program.
“As I travel the state, employers tell me all the time that their businesses are coming back, and they also tell me that they are also having a serious, serious time finding employees,” DeWine said in a press briefing on Thursday.
DeWine said that he has seen businesses struggle to find employees in both the restaurant and retail industries, as well as manufacturing and commercial industries.
“The federal assistance, that extra $300 a week in federal unemployment compensation, is in some cases certainly discouraging people from going back at this point in time,” DeWine said. “The assistance was always, always intended to be temporary.”
The governor said that Ohio would be unenrolled from the program on June 26.
“It’s having a real impact on Ohio’s ability to fully recover and come back. We’re coming back, but we need to come back as strong as humanly possible,” he said.
Ohio currently has an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, which is near the pre-pandemic level of 4.1 percent in February 2020.
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter with The Ohio Star and the Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair.
