COLUMBUS – The rush of nearly 188,000 Ohioans making first time jobless claims brought on by business closings due to the coronavirus epidemic cast the spotlight again on the state’s overburdened website where applications are filed.
That total for a single week was more than Ohio has seen in any full month except one, during the heat of the 1980s recession.
Please do not worry. Benefits will be made retroactive if you've been unable to file. #InThisTogetherOhio pic.twitter.com/Qsy7WdMlWo
— OhioJFS (@OhioJFS) March 26, 2020
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, tasked with fielding questions about the unemployment compensation system during Gov. Mike DeWine’s daily news briefings, likened the traffic at unemployment.ohio.gov to a highway that gets bogged down during rush hour.
He said the state continues to add servers to the computer system in hopes of increasing its capacity to 15 times its normal amount.
Gov. Mike DeWine says those who have been delayed getting their applications filed shouldn’t worry. Payments will be retroactive to the date they lost their jobs.
Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February, unchanged from January, but that rate does not reflect job losses due to the epidemic.