Drew Dixon
The number of Floridians filing new pandemic-related unemployment claims decreased in the past week, according to figures released by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
There were a total of 4.5 million jobless filings in the Sunshine as of this week since the coronavirus outbreak began in March. That’s an increase of about 77,000 from the third week of October.
The latest figures show a decrease in the number of new filings in October in general. The third week of October saw a weekly increase of 81,000 new claims and the second week of October saw a whopping 108,000 new unemployment filings.
That week alone was the worst increase of new jobless claims due to the pandemic since August. Even so, it’s nowhere near the wild figures that were showing in mid-to-late spring when some weeks saw as many as 500,000 new unemployment claims being filed in a single week as the COVID-19 outbreak wreaked havoc on the Florida economy as layoffs mounted and many businesses were shuttered permanently.
While recent weeks have seen some decreases in those seeking unemployment benefits, the lowest figures were posted in September when there were regularly 60,000 to 70,000 new unemployment claims filed on a weekly basis.
In the latest figures, 4.35 million of those claims are unique, meaning they were not duplicates. There have been 4.28 million claims processed. That’s about 99% of confirmed unique claims submitted to the state.
Another 2.078 million claims have been paid. That’s about 97% of the claims.
The total cost of helping the unemployed during that pandemic in Florida has now exceeded the $18 billion threshold, paid from state and federal benefits to those who’ve lost jobs during the coronavirus outbreak.
Nearly $12 billion of that figure has been picked up by the federal pandemic unemployment compensation and lost wage assistance program. The federal pandemic emergency unemployment compensation fund has accounted for another $1.45 billion while the federal pandemic unemployment assistance program has covered another $1.07 billion.
The Florida re-employment assistance fund has covered $3.58 million of the costs of the unemployment impact from the pandemic.
