The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) reported Thursday 158,678 initial jobless claims over the past week to the U.S. Deptartment of Labor, bringing the number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last four weeks to 855,197.
“To put that in perspective, the total for the last four weeks of claims is 139,685 more than the combined total of 715,512 for the last two years,” a release from ODJFS said.
Over these last four weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $227 million in unemployment compensation payments to more than 271,000 claimants, the release added.
On Wednesday, Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said that Ohio’s unemployment fund is heading toward insolvency in June. Husted reassured Ohioans that this does not mean they will lose benefits. The Ohio General Assembly has a number of options to consider to deal with this, including borrowing money from the federal government, limiting employees’ future benefits, or adding fees to employers.
The state has also provided an online portal for jobs available during the coronavirus pandemic.
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