Jobless Claims Dip in Florida

By The New Service of Florida

First-time jobless claims in Florida dipped last week.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 4,955 initial unemployment applications were filed in Florida last week, down from a revised count of 5,284 the week ending Sept. 19.

The state has reported fewer than 6,000 claims weekly since the end of August.

Nationally, Labor estimated 197,000 claims were filed last week, a decrease of 1,000 from the revised count for the prior week.

Florida’s unemployment rate stands at 4.5 percent, representing 502,000 unemployed Floridians in mid-August from a workforce of 11.1 million.

The national unemployment rate stands at 4.1 percent.