Ohio Initial Unemployment Claims Rise; Continued Claims Decline

Ohio saw an increase in new unemployment claims last week, while the number of continued claims declined, according to new figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

ODJFS reports Ohioans filed 4,503 initial unemployment claims during the week of August 9 through August 15. That was an increase of 337 claims from the previous week.

Approximately 889 of the initial claims were flagged for additional identity verification as the state works to prevent fraudulent unemployment filings.

At the same time, Ohioans filed 39,565 continued unemployment claims, a decrease of 1,992 from the previous week.

A total of 44,068 unemployment claims were filed in Ohio during the seven-day period.

The latest available unemployment figures show Ohio's unemployment rate was 3.6% in June, compared with the national rate of 4.2%.

Ohio's labor force participation rate stood at 61.6%, slightly above the national rate of 61.5%.

ODJFS works with local workforce development boards to provide employment and training services through 88 OhioMeansJobs Centers across the state. Job seekers can use the centers for help finding openings, preparing resumes, assessing career skills and practicing for interviews.

Employers can also use OhioMeansJobs services to locate potential employees, screen resumes and learn about available tax credits and workforce training programs.

More information is available at OhioMeansJobs.com.