CLEVELAND, Ohio – Continued unemployment claims held steady last week in Ohio as the state continues to grapple with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the latest jobless data.
Ohio reported 423,452 continued unemployment claims during the week ending July 25, a decline of only 220 from the previous week, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Continued unemployment claims represent anyone who’s filed for benefits more than once, so ODJFS has said they indicate whether people are going back to work after coronavirus shutdowns.
The state did report a drop in new unemployment claims, which indicate anyone filing for benefits for the first time. Ohio reported 27,415 new claims, a drop from last week’s revised total of 30,325, according to data from the ODJFS and U.S. Department of Labor.
The latest unemployment figures come as a federal stimulus that provides an extra $600 per week to out-of-work individuals is set to expire. Congress has been negotiating another relief package, but those talks hit an impasse Wednesday, according to The Washington Post. The additional benefits expire July 31, but Ohio sent out its last round of extra $600 payments for the week ending July 25, ODJFS said.
Across the U.S., another 1.4 million Americans filed new unemployment claims during the week ending July 12, an increase of 12,000 over the previous week, according to the Department of Labor.
The coronavirus caused the U.S. economy to shrink 32.9 percent in the quarter from April through June, a record for a single quarter, according to a report released Thursday. The previous worst quarterly contraction, 10 percent, occurred in 1958.
Continued unemployment claims have been steadily declining in Ohio since hitting a peak of 776,302 for the week ending April 25, but the decreases have slowed in recent weeks. The state averaged roughly 70,000 continued jobless claims per week in February and early March, before Gov. Mike DeWine ordered businesses to close and issued a stay-at-home order to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Ohio has received more than 1.5 million new unemployment claims since the pandemic struck, which is more than the combined total for the past three years. New unemployment claims peaked at a state-record 272,188 during the week ending March 28.
The ODJFS has distributed more than $5.7 billion in unemployment benefits to 764,000 people since the pandemic struck. The agency said it has processed 94 percent of the more than 1 million jobless applications its received over that time.
The ODJFS has also distributed more than $4.7 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits to more than 492,000 people. The federal government set up the PUA program for self-employed workers and independent contractors who do not qualify for traditional unemployment benefits.
Read more from cleveland.com:
Ohioans can now get 20 more weeks of unemployment benefits: What you need to know
State of Ohio asks feds for more than $3 billion loan to fund unemployment claims
Ohio’s unemployment rate improved in May but still remains near historic high
FAQ: Everything you need to know about getting Ohio unemployment amid coronavirus outbreak
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