COLUMBUS – Ohioans filed 17,435 initial jobless claims last week, the first increase in five weeks, indicating that the employment squeeze caused by the COVID-19 pandemic still has the state in its grip.
That number is a 96% decline from the peak in March, when over 200,000 workers were losing their jobs every week as the state took action to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, including a near-complete shutdown of the economy. However, the number was a 7% increase over the previous week, according to data released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The number of Ohioans filing continued claims increased very slightly to 321,057, about 41% of the number six months ago.
The 1.7 million initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 27 weeks was more than the combined total of those filed during the last four years.
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid rose slightly last week to 870,000, a historically high figure, but the Labor Department reported that the number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits declined to 12.6 million. The steady decline in that figure over the past several months reflects that some of the unemployed are being re-hired.
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For the sixth straight day, Ohio reported fewer than 1,000 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19. The 991 new cases Thursday brings the total number since the pandemic began to 147,744 with 4,715 deaths.
The number of active cases dropped by 253 to 15,790.
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Governor Mike DeWine vowed to veto a Senate-passed bill limiting his power to quarantine people during illness outbreaks.
It is the latest attempt by state lawmakers to limit the power of the administration to issue directives during illness outbreaks,such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and other emergencies.
“This bill cannot become law,” he told reporters Thursday.
The measure that would allow the state Department of Health to issue quarantine and isolation orders but the orders would only apply to people who are sick or who have been directly exposed to the disease, Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) said.
It also gives the legislature the ability to rescind the orders.
DeWine says such a law would make it impossible for future governors to respond to crises.