OHIO — While the start of the month saw a decrease in initial and continued unemployment claims, the number of claims rose for Ohio into last week.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said from Sept. 8 to Sept. 14, unemployment claims rose to 44,102 from the 43,422 claims filed from Sept. 1 to Sept. 7.

Ohioans filed 5,027 initial unemployment claims, more than 516 than the previous week. Of those, 734 have been flagged for more stingent verification to avoid fraud.

Of the continued claims, Ohioans filed 39,075 claims — 164 than the previous week. 

The state's July unemployment rate was 4.5%, slightly above the national 4.3%. Ohio's labor force participation rate was 62.3% for July, slightly below the national rate of 62.7%.