COLUMBUS – The number of Ohioans thrown out of work in the past month exceeds that of the past two years as the coronavirus pandemic threatens to bring the world’s economy to a grinding halt and throw it into a depression of historic proportions.
The state 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.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Thursday that 158,678 initial jobless claims were filed with for the week ending April 11, bringing the total number of claims filed over the last four weeks 855,197, nearly 140,000 more that the last two years combined.
If there is any consolation to be found in the latest report, it may be that this is the smallest number of weekly first-time claims of the last four weeks.
UNEMPLOYMENT UPDATE: Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Program
For more information on expanded eligibility, visit: https://t.co/EUmMtiqWCw#InThisTogetherOhio #EveryClaimIsImportant #COVID19 #CARESAct pic.twitter.com/H8sDJFirVX
— OhioJFS (@OhioJFS) April 16, 2020
Over the last four weeks, the department has distributed more than $227 million in unemployment compensation payments to more than 271,000 claimants, a workload that continues to overburden the agency’s 16-year-old computer system and a staff of claims processors that is nearly 30 times bigger than it was before the outbreak began and is still growing.
“This process will not stop improving until everybody is served,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said during Gov. Mike DeWine’s daily Statehouse news briefing Wednesday.
The staff of the call center (1-877-644-6562) has grown from 42 before the pandemic to nearly 1,200 staff taking calls with plans to launch a virtual call center by the end of next week.
Husted announced that the department will be adding text-to-speech and interactive voice recognition technology by the end of this week.
Next week, Husted says, the department will be able to begin processing the additional $600-a-week payments authorized by the rescue package approved by Congress.
By May 1, Husted promises the state will be prepared to process applications for an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits granted to those thrown out of work by the coronavirus and, by May 15, will be able to process claims by self-employed workers.
Nationwide, 5.2 million more people filed for unemployment benefits in the past week, even as President Donald Trump is preparing to announce guidelines to allow some states to reopen.