COLUMBUS — Ohioans filed 17,983 initial jobless claims last week — Sunday, Aug. 30 through Saturday, Sept. 5 — according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor Thursday.

Ohioans filed 328,515 continued jobless claims last week, which was 447,787 fewer than – or less than half (42.3%) of – the peak earlier this year.

The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 25 weeks — 1,682,061 — was more than the combined total of those filed during the last four years.

Over the last 25 weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $6.3 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 799,000 Ohioans. Of the more than 1 million applications the agency has received, more than 94% have been processed, with less than 6% pending.

In addition, ODJFS has issued more than $5.5 billion in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments to more than 557,000 PUA claimants.