Ohio was hit harder with unemployment filings than other states during the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 3.28 million claims were filed in the week that ended March 21. That marked an increase of more than 3 million claims over the week prior, when 282,000 claims were filed, The Ohio Star reported.
Ohio’s claims totaled 187,784, the Cincinnati Enquirer said, up from 7,046 the previous week.
The record total claims for a week was 205,159 in December 1981.
Ohio has more than 5 percent of the new unemployment claims, but only 3 percent of the members of Congress. (Ohio has 16 U.S. representatives out of the House’s 435 members, or 3 percent.)
The state’s unemployment claims of nearly 188,000, divided by the nation’s 3.28 million is 5.7 percent of all claims.
Compare that to Tennessee, which has 9 House members of 435, or 2 percent of the House. Tennessee had 39,096 unemployment claims for the week that ended last Saturday, up from 2,702 the previous week, WKRN said.
Dividing 39,096 by 3.28 million gives you 1.2 percent of all claims.
Ohio’s high numbers come as Gov. Mike DeWine and Health Department Director Dr. Amy Acton admit a small percentage of Ohioans who submit to the coronavirus test receive positive results, as The Star reported.
As of Wednesday, Ohio has conducted 14,764 tests with only 704 people coming back positive. This means that only 4.7 percent of Ohioans who have tested positive for the Chinese virus.
Ohio’s positive test average number is well below the national average of 15 percent, according to the COVID Tracking Project. During Wednesday’s press conference, a slide said the number of tests conducted in the state could be even more because the number of total tests are voluntarily reported by private labs.
The jobless rate is not likely to get better soon because DeWine on Sunday issued a stay-at-home order.
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Photo “People Filing Out Paperwork” by Micah Sitting. CC BY 2.0.
