COLUMBUS – First-time claims for unemployment benefits in Ohio spiked to a 15-week high last week.
Ohioans filed 11,955 initial traditional unemployment claims during the week that ended on Christmas, a 69% increase over the previous week and the highest number since mid-September, according to data the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services provided to the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday.
The 42,654 continued traditional unemployment claims filed was only slightly more than the week before and the total number of claims filed was only 5.7% higher than the previous week.
Ohio’s unemployment rate dropped in November to 4.8%, higher than national rate of 4.2%.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped to 198,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The four-week average, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, fell to just above 199,000, the lowest level since October 1969, more evidence that the job market nationwide remains strong.
The numbers suggest that the fast-spreading omicron variant has yet to trigger a wave of layoffs in the nation as a whole.