Ohio’s unemployment system agreed to pay contractors up to $59 per hour for call-center agents

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In this Sept. 16, 2017, file photo, a person uses a smart phone in Chicago. As Ohio's unemployment benefits system was overwhelmed with phone calls during the coronavirus pandemic, state officials signed contracts with companies to provide call-center agents for as much as $59 per hour, records show. (AP Photo, File)AP

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — During the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio’s beleaguered unemployment system agreed to pay more than $200 million to outside contractors for more than 1,600 call-center agents for as much as $59 per hour -- and even higher rates for supervisors, according to documents reviewed by cleveland.com.

An initial $9.6 million contract with Deloitte, signed in the initial weeks of the pandemic in 2020, has grown to nearly $115 million after being renewed several times. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services also agreed to contracts worth another $107 million to hire several other companies to help it handle an unprecedented tsunami of benefits claims caused by the coronavirus crisis.

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