Ohio says initial and continuing unemployment claims rise

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Both initial claims for unemployment and continuing claims rose slightly in the last week as the impact of the pandemic on the economy continues, Ohio’s human services agency reported Thursday

Ohioans filed 321,057 continued jobless claims last week, up by 1.6% from last week, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which oversees the state’s unemployment compensation system.

Continued jobless claims are considered a better indicator of the unemployment situation, and until last week had been slowly falling. Last week’s figure is still less than half the peak number of continued claims earlier this year.

The state also said 17,435 people filed initial unemployment claims last week, a 7% increase over the week before. That number had also been slowly falling.

Nationally, the number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid rose slightly last week to 870,000.

Ohio has reported nearly 147,000 confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus, and 4,687 deaths.