March unemployment spikes to 4.3% amid coronavirus shutdowns

COVID-19 warning yellow ribbon written with: Quarantine zone Cover 19 on Florida flag illustration. Coronavirus danger area, quarantined country.

Florida’s unemployment rate leapt to 4.3% in Florida as the economic ramifications of a global pandemic begin to show, according to the latest report from the Department of Economic Opportunity.

It’s a stark but expected jump in unemployment from the 2.8% reported in February. State leaders acknowledged last month the February report represented the pre-COVID-19 era.

Florida’s nonagricultural employment (seasonally adjusted) was 9.035 million, which represents a 126,000-job gain from March last year. But it was a decrease of 36,600 jobs just the month before, and the annual growth in number of jobs wasn’t enough to account for the growth in workers in the past year and the sudden disappearance of jobs as many industries furlough or lay off major segments of their workforce.

Nationally unemployment is at 4.4%.

The data tracks jobs information through the week of March 12, and DEO officials remind that many of the most severe economic consequences of coronavirus did not kick in until later in the month. The department’s snapshot ends just when amusement parks and Major League Baseball spring training games were being shut down but before many businesses closed or dramatically scaled back.

The report confirms daunting numbers released last week that showed an abrupt end to a decade of job growth nationwide.

The jobs report comes the same day the U.S. Department of Labor reported almost 181,300 Floridians filed jobless claims, raising the number of Floridians seeking unemployment benefits over the past three weeks to more than 520,000. The state later said the number of claims has reached 800,000.

Meanwhile, Florida’s unemployment system continues to come under steady attack from citizens struggling to file for unemployment.

It’s been a harrowing time for Florida economically, with DEO Executive Director Ken Lawson coming under increasing fire this week. Gov. Ron DeSantis largely sidelined the agency head this week, tapping instead Department of Management Services head Jon Satter in charge of Florida’s response to the unemployment surge.

Satter wasn’t ready to make a projection Friday on where the rate for Florida could go when numbers are updated again but said he is focused on reducing the claims backlog.

“The task is pretty daunting,” he admitted. “I lie awake, for the couple hours that I do lie in bed at night. It’s a task. There are a lot of steps to this. It is a very complicated process, but we are confident we are making progress hour by hour. Hopefully, we are going to get Floridians paid very, very soon.”

DeSantis on Thursday issued an executive order suspending requirements for laid off workers to confirm every two weeks they remain unemployed, something which would only further bog down a beleaguered system. At the time of the order, only 80,000 of the 850,000 Floridians waiting for benefits could as yet receive them.

The Governor has expressed support for making benefits retroactive to the point an individual lost their job, but has not yet responded to Democratic calls to extend benefits to 26 weeks instead of 12.

Florida this month went under a statewide stay-at-home order and has seen substantial outbreaks of COVID-19, particularly in South Florida.

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Material from The News Service of Florida was used in this report.