Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has announced the state will cut off the additional $300 in weekly federal assistance going to unemployed workers, starting in late June. DeWine says this is another step in restoring the market while others call it a mistake.

DeWine said companies around the state are having trouble finding workers to fill job openings and says the extra $300 a week going towards people who are unemployed is playing a role.

鈥淚n some cases, certainly discouraging people from going back at this point in time. The assistance was always, always intended to be temporary,鈥� DeWine said.

Ohio will end that additional assistance program on June 26.

Watch: DeWine and Husted discuss hiring issues in Ohio.

But groups like the liberal think tank Policy Matters Ohio calls that a mistake.

Hannah Halbert, executive director of Policy Matters Ohio, wrote in a statement, 鈥淭he best way for employers to attract new workers is to pay a good wage and offer decent benefits. State unemployment data show Ohioans re-enter the workforce when decent jobs are available. In the last quarter of 2020, the vast majority of unemployed Ohioans, about 80%, returned to work before exhausting their unemployment benefits.鈥�

When asked what the employment situation with the additional $300 in assistance said about the current state of wages in Ohio, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) said there are many jobs available in the state paying $50,000 salaries and $15 an hour, arguing that a lack of good-paying jobs is not the problem.

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