The Center Square

COLUMBUS — New unemployment claims in Ohio dropped last week by 5,963 from the prior week. For the week ending Aug. 8, 20,090 new unemployment claims were registered, compared to 26,053 new claims the week ending Aug. 1.

More Ohio workers also are dropping off the unemployment rolls overall. Advance unemployment claims for the week ending Aug. 8 stood at 350,702, which is a drop of 58,621 claims from the prior week’s 409,323 claims.

Nationwide, seasonally adjusted initial claims dropped 228,000 in the week ending Aug. 8, with the total number of new claims to 963,000. The Aug. 8 initial claims is the lowest number of new claims since March, when government-mandated restrictions to counter the spread of COVID-19 opened the floodgates for nearly 56 million unemployed Americans.

The 4-week national moving average the week ending Aug. 8 was 1,252,750 initial claims, a decrease of 86,250 claims from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,250 from 1,337,750 to 1,339,000.

The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending July 25 were in Nevada (23.6), Hawaii (21.1), Puerto Rico (19.1), Louisiana (17.3), New York (16.5), California (16.0), Connecticut (15.3), Georgia (14.4), Massachusetts (14.3), and Rhode Island (12.7).

The largest increase in initial claims for the week ending August 1 was in Rhode Island (+87), while the largest decreases were in California (-22,610), Virginia (-19,048), Texas (-14,095), Florida (-13,176), and New Jersey (-11,489).