COLUMBUS — Ohioans filed 16,294 initial jobless claims last week, according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor Thursday.

This was 257,921 fewer than – or less than 6% of – the peak earlier this year. Ohioans filed 320,532 continued jobless claims last week, which was 455,770 fewer than – or less than half (about 41%) of – the peak earlier this year.

The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 26 weeks — 1,698,355 — was more than the combined total of those filed during the last four years.

Ohio’s unemployment rate was 8.9% in August 2020, down from a revised 9.0% in July. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 45,500 over the month, from a revised 5,101,700 in July to 5,147,200 in August 2020.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in August was 510,000, unchanged from July. The number of unemployed has increased by 269,000 in the past 12 months from 241,000. The August unemployment rate for Ohio increased from 4.2% in August 2019.

The U.S. unemployment rate for August was 8.4%, down from 10.2% in July, and up from 3.7% in August 2019.

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 45,500 over the month, from a revised 5,101,700 in July to 5,147,200 in August, according to the latest business establishment survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics) in cooperation with ODJFS.

Employment in goods-producing industries, at 883,700, increased 4,200 over the month as gains in manufacturing (+4,500) exceeded losses in construction (-300).

Mining and logging did not change over the month.

The private service-providing sector, at 3,531,200 increased 33,500.

Gains in educational and health services (+12,300), professional and business services (+7,500), trade, transportation, and utilities (+6,800), leisure and hospitality (+4,500), other services (+2,300), and information (+200) outpaced losses in financial activities (-100).

Government employment, at 732,300, increased 7,800 as gains in federal (+8,200) and local (+900) government outweighed losses in state government (-1,300).

From August 2019 to August 2020, nonagricultural wage and salary employment decreased 448,700.

Employment in goods-producing industries decreased 55,700.

Manufacturing lost 41,100 jobs with losses in durable goods (-40,000) and nondurable goods (-1,100).

Construction decreased 12,600 jobs and mining and logging lost 2,000 jobs.

Employment in the private service-providing sector decreased 333,800 with losses in leisure and hospitality (-142,700), professional and business services (-63,200), trade, transportation, and utilities (-58,500), educational and health services (-39,700), financial activities (-15,700), other services (-10,200), and information (-3,800).

Government employment decreased 59,200 as losses in local (-42,800) and state (-24,400) government surpassed gains in federal government (+8,000).