Florida ends May with slight increase in new jobless claims

First-time unemployment claims increased in the final week of May in Florida. Image via Bloomberg.

First-time weekly unemployment insurance claims saw an increase for the final week of May, according to new figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor.

There were 6,920 initial unemployment benefit claims filed in the Sunshine State for the week ending June 1, using seasonally unadjusted data. That’s up from the week ending May 25, when there were 6,276 initial jobless claims in Florida.

The latest figures cap an up-and-down month for initial unemployment weekly claims in Florida. May began with a steep drop in claims, with the first-time numbers falling to 5,893 for the week ending May 4. The next week saw that figure jump substantially, to 7,051. That was followed by two weeks of declines before the final week of May.

On the national front, the seasonally unadjusted numbers headed in a different direction than Florida. Across the U.S., there were 195,430 new unemployment insurance benefit claims for the week ending June 1, a slight decrease from the week ending May 25. It’s a 0.9% decline from the previous week, or a drop by 1,734 new filings across America.

Florida’s May picture for unemployment claims reflects the state’s total unemployment picture, which has remained relatively stable this year, with some minor increases.

Florida saw a 3.3% unemployment rate in April when the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity released the total state figures May 17. The month-over-month rate increased only 0.1 percentage points from the March rate which showed the same percentage jump from February.

The February figure was flat compared to January but was still below the national total unemployment rate. Florida has maintained a lower unemployment rate compared to the national figure for 42 consecutive weeks.