Jobless Claims Continue to Drop

By The News Service of Florida

Florida continues to see a slowdown of first-time unemployment claims since brief spikes following Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The federal agency on Wednesday estimated that 6,085 initial unemployment claims in the state were filed last week, down from a revised count of 6,280 in the week ending Nov 16. The weekly total has been on a downward path since the week after Milton’s Oct. 9 landfall in Sarasota County, when 10,800 first-time claims were submitted. The post-Milton claims surpassed the 9,556 claims submitted the week ending Oct. 5, after Helene made landfall in Taylor County on Sept. 26.

The fluctuation in claims hasn’t altered the state’s overall employment rate, which has held at 3.3 percent for seven consecutive months. Nationally, 213,000 claims were filed last week, down from a revised count of 215,000 for the week ending Nov. 16.