Coronavirus: Ohio unemployment claims drop week-to-week as claims approach 1 million

OHIO — Ohio saw 109,369 initial jobless claims last week, a drop from approximately 150,000 from the week before, according to new state data.

The number of jobless claims in Ohio over the last five weeks is just below one million, at 964,566.

Today at 5 on News Center 7, John Bedell talks to real people here in the Miami Valley about their struggle with job loss, plus a look at the simple search you can do to reveal the large number of jobs that are available.

>> 26 million have sought US jobless aid since virus hit

The state has a total population of approximately 11.6 million, census data shows.

INITIAL CLAIMS LAST WEEK BY COUNTY:

• Auglaize: 849
• Butler: 3,430
• Champaign: 691
• Clark: 1,378
• Clinton: 380
• Darke: 393
• Greene: 1,138
• Logan: 1,434
• Mercer: 602
• Miami: 1,121
• Montgomery: 4,988
• Preble: 293
• Shelby: 977
• Warren: 1,920

The total number of claims in the last five weeks now sits at 249,054 over the total amount of claims combined over the last two years, which was 715,512.

The state has distributed more than $926 million in unemployment compensation payments to more than 376,000 claimants.

“All eligible Ohioans will receive their unemployment benefits – and any delays in processing their claims will not reduce the amount received. ODJFS will not rest until all eligible Ohioans are served,” the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services said.

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