COLUMBUS — Ohioans filed 18,719 initial jobless claims last week, according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor Thursday. This was 255,496 fewer than – or less than 7% of – the peak earlier this year.

Ohioans filed 339,957 continued jobless claims last week, which was 436,345 fewer than – or less than half (43.8%) of – the peak earlier this year.

The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 24 weeks — 1,664,078 — was more than the combined total of those filed during the last four years.

Over the last 24 weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $6.2 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 795,000 Ohioans.

Of the more than 1.3 million applications the agency has received, about 94% have been processed, with about 6% pending. In addition, ODJFS has issued more than $5.4 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments to more than 550,000 PUA claimants.

Individuals can visit OhioMeansJobs.com or contact their local OhioMeansJobs center to find and apply for job openings, take skill and career interest assessments, create or improve their resumes, and practice interviewing.

To find contact information for your nearest OhioMeansJobs center, visit OhioMeansJobs.com and click on the icon for OhioMeansJobs centers.