Ohio now is the only one of the 50 states that reduces unemployment benefits by 100 percent of Social Security payments received by jobless workers.

Thus, many older workers find when they lose their jobs that their unemployment insurance is reduced or cut to zero. State Rep. Bill Seitz is pushing to reduce this discriminatory offset provision. The issue also has been discussed by a subcommittee of the state's Unemployment Compensation Advisory Council, the body that recommends changes in Ohio's unemployment insurance law. Revising this provision, along with reducing Ohio's onerous earnings requirements for workers to qualify for unemployment insurance, would go a long way toward improving the fairness of the unemployment insurance system. Policy Matters Ohio explains the Social Security "offset" issue in a January 2006 Q&A adapted from the National Employment Law Project.

Read the Q&A