COLUMBUS — In a sign Ohioans are heading back to work, the Ohio Dept. of Job & Family Services reported Thursday weekly claims for unemployment benefits declined for the seventh straight week.
Those who remain jobless filed 287,499 fewer continued claims last week, compared to the peak in April.
In addition, the number of initial unemployment applications has declined. For the week ending June 13, ODJFS reported 32,788 initial jobless claims to the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 13 weeks (1,360,631), during the COVID-19 pandemic, is more than the combined total of those filed during the last three years.
Over the last 13 weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $4.1 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 700,000 claimants. Of the more than 1 million applications the agency has received, more than 94 percent have been processed, with less than 6 percent pending.
In addition, ODJFS has issued more than $2.1 billion in pandemic unemployment assistance payments to more than 262,000 claimants.
