COLUMBUS, Ohio — The number of initial jobless claims filed by Ohioans last week dropped below 20,000, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
For the week of Aug. 16 through Aug. 22, the agency received 18,988 initial jobless claims, a decline from the 20,969 initial jobless claims reported the week before.Last week's initial claims total was 255,227 fewer than the peak earlier this year.
During the same week, Ohioans filed 344,409 continued jobless claims last week, which was 431,893 fewer than the peak earlier this year
Over the last 23 weeks, Ohioans filed 1,645,359 initial jobless claims, which is more than the combined total during the last 4 years.
ODJFS has distributed more than $6.1 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 790,000 Ohioans.
Of the more than 1.3 million applications the agency received, about 94% have been processed, with about 6% still pending.
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