Another 99,000 Join Unemployed In Ohio Valley As U.S. Jobless Total Tops 38M

WKMS | By Jeff Young

Published May 21, 2020 at 9:50 AM CDT

The U.S. Department of Labor reported close to 99,000 additional unemployment insurance claims in the last week from Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, as state unemployment offices worked their way through a backlog of millions of claims filed since the coronavirus pandemic forced business closures beginning in March.

For the week ending May 16, Kentucky reported 47,036 claims, Ohio had 46,494, and West Virginia reported 4,853. Nearly 2.5 million people have filed unemployment insurance claims in the three states since mid-March.

Nationally, the Labor Dept. reported 2.4 million unemployment claims for the week, bringing the total of jobless Americans seeking help to a staggering 38.6 million over the last nine weeks.

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Jeff Young

ReSource managing editor Jeff Young has reported from Appalachian coalfields, Capitol Hill, and New England’s coast, among other places. Jeff worked for West Virginia Public Broadcasting and was Washington correspondent for the nationally distributed program Living on Earth. Recently, he directed communications for ocean conservation with The Pew Charitable Trusts in Boston. Jeff grew up near Huntington, West Virginia, and studied journalism and biology at Marshall University and the University of Charleston. His reporting has been recognized with numerous awards and he was named a 2012 Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University.

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