From staff and wire reports
COLUMBUS – The pace of layoffs continued to increase in Ohio last week even as the number of workers collecting jobless benefits in the U.S. remained at historically low levels.
Ohioans filed 8,817 initial claims for unemployment claims during the week that ended on May 28, which was 524 more than the previous week, according to data the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services shared with the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday.
The 6.5% increase represented the fourth straight week of higher first-time claims, which generally track the number of layoffs.
The 28,703 continued claims filed last week was 5% lower than the week before, the sixth decline in the last seven weeks.
The total number of traditional claims filed from May 22-28 was 2.6% lower.
Ohio’s unemployment rate in April was 4%. The
The four-week average for claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, increased by 8.6%.
The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits for the week ending May 21 fell from the previous week, to 1.3 million, the fewest since Dec. 27, 1969.