By The News Service of Florida
First-time jobless claims in Florida eased for a second consecutive week following a spike when nearly 5,000 Spirit Airlines workers were laid off in the state.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,805 initial unemployment applications were filed in Florida last week, down from a revised count of 6,224 for the week ending May 16 and 8,164 for the week ending May 9.
Prior to Dania Beach-based Spirit Airlines advising workers May 2 operations were ceasing immediately, the state had averaged 5,594 claims a week over the prior eight weeks.
Spirit’s downfall affected 4,853 employees in Broward, Miami-Dade and Orange counties.
The Spirit layoffs weren’t reflected in the April jobs report released last week showing an increase in jobs but also an uptick in the unemployment rate.
The state mark stands at 4.8 percent, with 532,000 unemployed Floridians from a labor force of 11.15 million.
Nationally, 215,000 claims were filed last week, up from 210,000 the week ending May 16.
Be the first to leave a comment on this article.