KENTUCKY — Initial claims for unemployment in Kentucky are down from last week, but it remains at a record high.

69,000 Kentuckians filed for unemployment during the week of May 9 and that’s down from 82,000 the prior week.

253,000 Kentuckians are currently getting unemployment benefits down by about 3,000 people from the week before.

According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, since the end of March, more than 742,000 Kentuckians filed first-time unemployment claims.

Nearly 3 million laid-off workers applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week as the viral outbreak led more companies to slash jobs even though most states have begun to let some businesses reopen under certain restrictions.

 Roughly 36 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the two months since the coronavirus first forced millions of businesses to close their doors and shrink their workforces, the Labor Department said Thursday.