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Ohio has faced "unprecedented" demand for unemployment benefits this week—but will not be releasing jobless claim numbers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, under a request from the Department of Labor.
State Lt. Governor Jon Husted told reporters at a Monday briefing that a website and call center for making initial jobless claims had experienced an "issue" under a huge wave of requests.
He added that Ohio authorities had been asked not to release their data on initial jobless numbers by the labor department, and would be complying with the request.
It was reported last week that the Department of Labor had asked all state labor officials to avoid giving out exact jobless claim numbers, and instead talk of growing demand for unemployment benefits in "generalities."
Appearing at a press conference on the coronavirus with Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Husted said: "First of all, we've been asked by the U.S. Department of Labor not to release our numbers on unemployment, so we're following that guidance.
"And secondly, there was an issue this morning with the website and to some extent the call center on unemployment benefits. We have put our best tech team on this to get this up and running."
He went on to say that the system was not built for a "crisis" like the one posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, adding: "It was built to take care of what we could expect on a regular or even robust basis.
"But what we're experiencing now is frankly unprecedented. We ask for people to be patient, know that we understand the frustration that can come with this, and I'm hopeful that it will be more functional, more dependable here in the coming days."
Newsweek has contacted the Ohio Governor's office for further comment and will update this article with any response.
Fox 8 reported on Monday that Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services received a "record number" of initial jobless claims over the previous week. The surge in demand reportedly caused the state's unemployment website to go down under a "heavy volume" of traffic.
Although the labor department has asked state authorities not to reveal jobless claim numbers until it releases its official nationwide report on Thursday, a few officials have detailed major spikes in claims.
Michigan saw its number of jobless claims surge by 2,100 percent last week, with a total of 108,710 claims being filed.
SF Gate also reported California Gov. Gavin Newsom said it was "critical" for states to receive block grants to handle growing demand for unemployment insurance at a Monday night press conference.
The Dept. of Labor revealed on Thursday last week that 281,000 jobless claims were recorded in the week ending March 14.
A note sent out by Goldman Sachs last week forecast that unemployment claims for the week ending March 21 could hit the highest level on record when they are published on Thursday.
