Roughly 80,000 more Kentuckians seek jobless assistance

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — About 80,000 Kentucky residents applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s down from the prior week but shows economic disruption from the coronavirus continues to spread. The U.S. Labor Department reported the figures Thursday. The report shows the number of Kentuckians filing for jobless assistance last week was down about 11,000 from the prior week. The number of laid-off Kentucky workers seeking jobless assistance in the past seven weeks is approaching 700,000. That’s about one-third of the state’s civilian workforce. Gov. Andy Beshear has started rolling out plans to gradually reopen businesses.