COLUMBUS – The number of Ohioans filing first-time unemployment claims last week declined by 12.3%, but many workers remain on the sidelines as the state’s economy recovers slowly from the springtime coronavirus shutdown.
Ohioans filed 18,988 initial jobless claims last week, according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor Thursday.
The number of new claims has dropped during six of the past eight weeks.
Workers filed 344,409 continued jobless claims last week, which was, 44.3% of those filed during the peak of the shutdown earlier this year.
Ohio’s unemployment rate fell 8.9% in July from a 11% in June as 62,700 jobs were created.
The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 23 weeks is 165 million.
Just over 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that the coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten jobs even as the housing market, auto sales and other segments of the economy rebound.