Ohio Reports 42K New Jobless Claims

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reports 42,082 jobless claims were filed for the week ending May 23.

That adds to the increasing total of 1,257,838 claims filed in the last 10 weeks, which is more than the combined total of filings during the last three years.

In the last 10 weeks, Job and Family Services has distributed more than $3.1 billion in unemployment compensation to more than 644,000 Ohioans, it reported Thursday. Of the more than 1 million applications received, the agency has processed nearly 93% with another 7% pending.

The department has also issued more than $647 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, payments to more than 109,000 claimants.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor reports 59,073 jobless claims were filed for the week ending May 23. Including initial numbers for the week of May 24, the commonwealth reports that since March 15, more than 2.3 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment compensation, including 1.97 million for regular unemployment and another 389,000 for PUA.

Since March 15, the department reports it has paid more than $10.8 billion in unemployment compensation, including $6.3 billion in regular unemployment, $3.9 billion from the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, $653 million from PUA (since May 7), and $6 million in extended benefits through Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.

Nationally, an estimated 2.1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits the week ending May 23, despite the gradual reopening of businesses around the country, bringing the running total since the coronavirus shutdowns took hold in mid-March to about 41 million, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 14.5% for the week ending May 16, a decrease of 2.6 percentage points from the previous week’s revised rate

First-time applications for unemployment, though still extraordinarily high, have fallen for eight straight weeks, and states are gradually letting stores, restaurants, salons, gyms and other businesses reopen. But other employers are still laying off workers in the face of a deep recession.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.