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Nearly 1 million Ohioans have filed for unemployment in the last 5 weeks, ODJFS says

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Posted at 10:22 AM, Apr 23, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-23 18:52:09-04

CLEVELAND — Nearly one million Ohioans (964,566) have filed for unemployment over the last five weeks, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services(ODJFS).

To put that in perspective, the total for the last five weeks of claims is 249,054 more than the combined total of 715,512 for the last two years.

For the week ending on April 18, 109,369 Ohioans filed unemployment claims. Over the last five weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $926 million in unemployment compensation payments to more than 376,000 claimants.

Director of ODJFS Kimberly Hall said during Wednesday’s state briefing that the state has processed 401,214 unemployment claims that are currently being paid, with 350,000 still pending.

All eligible Ohioans will receive their unemployment benefits and any delays in processing their claims will not reduce the amount received, according to ODJFS.

RELATED: Ohio's unemployment could go up to 20%, compared to 10% during Great Recession, Lt. Gov. Husted says