COLUMBUS — Applications for unemployment benefits remain high in Ohio, however the number of applications filed continued on a downward trend last week, according to data released by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
>>RELATED: Around 1 million Americans applied for jobless benefits last week
Initial applications saw the biggest drop from last week, over 12 percent from the previous week, with just over 19,000 Ohioans filing new unemployment applications, OHJFS data shows.
The total number of claims, which includes initial applications and those who filed continued claims, dropped around 4 percent. Nearly 345,000 Ohioans filed continued claims last week, which is still over 800 percent more than this time in 2019. The continued claims filed last week are just under half of the total number of continued claims filed during the peak of claims filed earlier this year amid the pandemic.
In the last 23 weeks, over 1.6 million unemployment applications have been filed, which is more than the combined total processed by the ODJFS in the last four years combined. Also over the last 23 weeks, over $6.1 billion in unemployment compensation payments have been distributed.
Nationally, just over 1 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a slight drop from the previous week, according to the Associated Press.
Cox Media Group
