State expects to resume release of unemployment data this week

After taking one week off from publicly releasing data related to unemployment claims in Ohio, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services said it should be back on track today. Director Kimberly Hall said in a livestreamed media conference Wednesday that the agency did not release the data last Thursday morning as it usually does because a discrepancy was discovered between what it was reporting to the public and U.S. Department of Labor versus what the Department of Labor expects to receive from the state in this particular report. The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services has been including the "number of claims providing extending benefits and a small subset of supplemental benefit claims," Hall said, while the Labor Department expects to receive reports showing just traditional unemployment continued claims that workers submit for a maximum 26 weeks of benefits. "Regardless of the strict Department of Labor reporting rule, we believe that the more expansive accounting and reporting that we've provided gives, definitely, a more accurate picture of the pandemic's comprehensive impact on Ohio's unemployment numbers," Hall said. ODJFS will continue to report the same statistics it has been to the public, but will compose separate reports to send to the Labor Department. Today's unemployment claims report is expected to be released alongside the data from last week. Unemployment reports since the COVID-19 shutdown began in March have shown steep increases in claims filed, both at the state level and in Lorain County. Also during the media conference, Hall said more than 1.4 million Ohioans have received unemployment benefits from ODJFS since the start of the pandemic, leading to a high volume of calls to the agency and now a move to bring 75 additional call-center staff members into work on Mondays. Call volume is especially high at the start of the week due to more inquiries about continued jobless claims. "It's really a shift of workers from low-volume times, primarily over the weekend, to higher-volume days," Hall said. "They are not new staff, although we are in the process of adding week-over-week additional call center staff." She added that the lowest call volume typically occurs between 1 and 5 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.