Jobless Claims Down in Florida

By The News Service Florida

An estimated 5,384 first-time unemployment claims were filed in Florida last week, a drop of 500 from the prior week, according to a U.S. Department of Labor estimate on Thursday.

The estimate covers a period shortened by the President’s Day holiday and is the lowest weekly figure for the year. The total also ends a two-week uptick in claims, with 5,800 initial claims reported the week ending Feb. 7 and 5,884 the week ending Feb. 14. There were 5,645 claims filed the week ending Jan. 31.

Nationally, 212,000 claims were filed last week, up from a revised count of 208,000 the week ending February 14.

The U.S. unemployment rate stands at 4.3 percent. Florida’s jobless rate also is at 4.3 percent, reflecting mid-December conditions with an estimated 486,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed from a workforce of 11.23 million people.