COLUMBUS – The state reported the seventh straight weekly decline in the number of Ohioans filing first-time unemployment claims as the state’s economy slowly emerges from the shutdown that has idled more than 1 million Ohio workers.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Thursday announced that it reported 32,788 initial jobless claims to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2,642 fewer than the previous week. Ohioans also filed 287,499 fewer continued claims last week compared to April when claims peaked as stay-at-home and health directives aimed at slowing the spread of the virus shuttered businesses and employers laid off works in large numbers.
The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 13 weeks is 1.36 million. The agency has paid out more than $4.1 billion in compensation payments to more than 700,000 claimants, over 94% of the applications received.
In addition, ODJFS has issued more than $2.1 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments to more than 262,000 claimants who traditionally would not receive them but qualified under temporary changes to federal law.
About 1.5 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a historically high number, even as the economy increasingly reopens and employers bring some people back to work.
The latest figure from the Labor Department marks the 11th straight weekly decline.
The state continues to administer programs intended to help spur Ohio’s economic recovery, including an $8.5 million National Dislocated Worker Grant to help unemployed workers and employers impacted by COVID-19 receive employment and training services at 22 comprehensive and 66 affiliate OhioMeansJobs centers throughout the state.
Individuals can find and apply for job openings, take skill and career interest assessments, create or improve their resumes, and practice interviewing. Employers can get help finding skilled candidates for jobs, screening resumes, learning about federally funded tax credits or training programs, and more.