COLUMBUS – The number of Ohioans filing applications for unemployment benefits for the first time jumped 21% last week to over 21,000, a sign that many employers keep cutting jobs in the face of the accelerating pandemic.
The 21,263 initial jobless claims the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported to the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday was 3,732 more than the week that ended Oct. 24, though it was about 252,952 – about 92% — fewer than the number filed at the peak of the state’s economic shutdown earlier this year.
The number of continued jobless claims, a more reliable measure of the employment situation, was 265,613, virtually unchanged from the week before, the agency reported.
The number of Ohio workers who have filed initial claims over the last 33 weeks is over 1.8 million, more than the combined total of those filed during the last four years.
Over the last 33 weeks, the state has distributed more than $7.1 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 833,000 Ohioans.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits last week fell slightly to 751,000, a still-historically high level.
A surge in viral cases and Congress’ failure so far to provide more aid for struggling individuals and businesses are threatening to deepen Americans’ economic pain.
Ohio Thursday reported the second record number of new daily cases of COVID-19 in three days. The 4,961 new cases brings the total number of confirmed and probable cases since the pandemic began to 235,170 with 5,461 deaths.
There are a record 2,075 Ohioans hospitalized with COVID-19, including 214 in the last 24 hours. There are also a record number of Ohioans in intensive-care units with the virus.
Eight months after the pandemic flattened the national economy, weekly jobless claims still point to a stream of layoffs.
Before the virus struck in March, the weekly figure had remained below 300,000 for more than five straight years.