COLUMBUS – With many Ohio businesses scheduled to reopen in the next 12 days, the state reported another 92,920 initial jobless claims were filed last week as the impact of the coronavirus outbreak continues to rock the state’s economy.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services urges individuals to file their claims online.
Those without internet access can call 1-877-644-6562 (OHIO-JOB) from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. weekdays, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays and from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. on Sundays
Although the number of new claims reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor has declined for three week in a row, the number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last six weeks still tops 1 million and is 715,512 more than the total number of claims filed during the past two years combined.
The downward trend in new claims suggests to some observers that the state’s economic slide may be slowing.
The state Department of Job and Family Services says it has distributed more than $1.45 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 481,000 claimants since the middle of March when businesses were closed and stay-at-home orders issued to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The agency, which has been swamped by the number of claims in a short period, says any delays in processing claims will not reduce the amounts of benefits paid out.
More than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s.
Roughly 30.3 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the six weeks since the coronavirus outbreak began forcing millions of employers to close their doors and slash their workforces.
That is more people than live in the New York and Chicago metropolitan areas combined, and it’s by far the worst string of layoffs on record. It adds up to more than one in six American workers.