COLUMBUS – Ohioans filed 24,964 initial claims for unemployment benefits last week, a 14% increase over the week before, the third straight weekly hike, indicating that layoffs continue as the surge in COVID-19 cases in the state reaches alarming proportions
According to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported to the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday, 3,096 more Ohioans filed first-time jobless claims than the week that ended on Nov. 7, only about 9% of the more than 274,000 who filed claims at the peak of the economic shutdown earlier this year.
A total of nearly 1.9 million Ohioans filed initial jobless claims over the last 35 weeks, the agency reported.
The number of continued jobless claims, considered a more accurate measure of the state’s economic performance, was down by 2.4% from the week before and about two-thirds of the number claiming continued benefits at the peak of the shutdown.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose last week to 742,000, the first increase in five weeks and a sign that the resurgent viral outbreak is likely slowing the economy and forcing more companies to cut jobs.
The Labor Department’s report showed that applications for benefits rose from 711,000 in the previous week.
Claims had soared to 6.9 million in March when the pandemic first intensified. Before the pandemic, applications typically hovered about 225,000 a week.
The economy’s modest recovery is increasingly at risk, with newly confirmed daily infections in the United States having exploded 80% over the past two weeks to the highest levels on record.