OHIO — Continued unemployment claims continued to rise last week in the Buckeye State, but there was a drop in initial claims.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services provided the update for Sept. 22 to Sept. 28.

Initial unemployment claims dropped by 364 to 5,211. There were 671 flagged for identity certification to avoid fraud.

Meanwhile, there were 39,525 continued unemployment claims last week, 714 more than the previous week. In total, there were 44,736 claims filed.

In August, the state's unemployment rate in August was 4.5% compared to the national rate of 4.2%. The Buckeye State's labor force participation was 62.3% for the same month while the national rate was 62.7%.