OHIO — State unemployment numbers fell at the beginning of August, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

For claims filed from Aug. 4 to Aug. 10, there were 5,388 initial unemployment claims. This was 74 fewer applications than the previous week and of those 725 have been flagged for more stringent identity verification to avoid fraud.

There were also fewer continued unemployment claims last week, sitting at 43,798. This is 519 fewer than the previous week. 

The Buckeye State saw the total amount of claims for the time period fall to 49,186.

In June, the state's unemployment rate was 4% compared to the national 4.1%. The Buckeye State was similarly close in labor force participation rate sitting at 62.1% compared to the country's 62.6%.