The state has paid more than 3.8 billion dollars in unemployment insurance benefits to over 683 thousand Ohioans since mid-March, more than it's ever paid in a full year.
And the state has paid 1.4 billion in federally funded pandemic unemployment assistance nearly 200 thousand people who wouldn't normally qualify for unemployment. But there are still tens of thousands of jobless Ohioans who have yet to get a check. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
94 percent of the more than 1.3 million claims filed since March 15 have been processed. But Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Kimberly Hall says 58,000 are still pending from last month, 7,000 from April, and 2400 from March – a total of 67,400 claims unpaid.
“Individuals’ claims that are still pending at this point in time reflect levels of complexity that require some really detailed expertise and interaction with our central claimants and we’re working through that.”
Hall says many are interstate claims, and with so many states going through big numbers of claims, the whole process is backed up. She also says identity and employer verification can be challenges too.
