COLUMBUS — Over 3,000 new Ohioans filed for unemployment benefits last week, continuing an increasing trend in new claims while continued claims continued to decrease, according to new data released by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
>>PREVIOUS REPORT: Continued unemployment claims drop again in Ohio this week, initial claims rise slightly
Last week, 24,964 Ohioans filed initial claims for jobless benefits, a 14 percent increase from the previous week, according to ODJFS data.
Helped by the decrease in continued claims, the total number of unemployment applications was down 3 percent from the previous week, with over 169,700 applications received. The total number of applications received is still very high and is over 230 percent higher compared to this time in 2019.
Continued claims however continued on a downward trend, with 144,272 people filing. That is a decrease of over 8,300 people, or around 5.5 percent.
In the last 35 weeks, ODJFS has distributed over $7.3 billion in unemployment compensation benefits to over 841,000 Ohioans.