COLUMBUS – The number of newly-unemployed Ohio workers increased for the third week in a row, according to statistics released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Thursday.
The number of Ohioans who filed initial jobless claims for the week than ended Oct. 3 increased by 3.6% to 18,592, the agency reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, while the number of workers applying for first-time benefits nationwide declined.
Ohioans filed 299,030 continued jobless claims last week, which was 0.7% lower than the week before but less than half of the number filed at the peak of the economic shutdown in March as businesses closed statewide to combat the spread of the coronavirus.
That indicates that some workers are finding jobs while others have stopped looking for work.
A total of 1.75 million Ohioans filed for unemployment benefits over the 29 weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
U.S. jobless claims reached 840,000 as layoffs remain high seven months after virus struck economy.
The state Thursday reported 1,539 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, one of the highest single-day totals of new cases since the pandemic began. The disease has sickened 164,262 Ohioans and has killed 4,983. There were 18,471 active cases, 549 more than Wednesday.