By The News Service of Florida
First-time jobless claims in Florida dropped last week after two weeks of growth.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 4,844 initial unemployment applications were filed last week, down from a revised count of 6,014 the prior week.
The decrease follows the state Department of Commerce reporting Florida’s jobless rate for September at 4.4 percent, down 0.1 percentage point from August. The rate, representing 489,000 jobless Floridians from a workforce of 11.1 million, is within the range economists consider full employment.
The state figures came as the National Federation of Independent Business revealed small business owners have become “more cautious” about planning for the future, with labor quality or availability being the top issue for the third consecutive month.
Nationally, an estimated 194,000 claims were filed last week, down from a revised count of 200,000 for the week ending Oct. 10.
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