OHIO

OHIO
Jobless benefits paymentfor employers to increase
COLUMBUS -- The tax rates used to calculate employers' payments to Ohio's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund will increase in 2004.
Starting in January the average employer will pay $216 per employee per year for jobless benefits, compared with the current average of $148 per worker. Employers are taxed on the first $9,000 each covered employee is paid in a year.
State officials evaluate the fund every year, using a formula prescribed by state law to determine whether a change in the tax rate is necessary to maintain the fund's solvency.
Expenditures in fiscal 2003 reduced the fund from $1.3 billion to about $1 billion by mid-November, automatically triggering an increase.
From Vindicator staff reports