Coronavirus: Ohio sees over 150,000 jobless claims last week

OHIO — The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported the state had 158,678 jobless claims last week, bringing the total over the last four weeks in the state to 855,197.

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The new data comes as the federal government announced 5.2 million jobless claims across the country last week.

Ohio’s numbers have spiked as the state government implemented social distancing rules and other restrictions to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

In the last four weeks, Ohio’s unemployment system has distributed more than $227 million in unemployment compensation payments to more than 271,000 claimants.

To put the numbers in perspective, the total for the last four weeks of claims is 139,685 more than the combined total of 715,512 over the last two years.

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