Florida rebounds with a drop this week in new jobless claim filings

Florida this week nearly erased a notable recent spike in first-time unemployment claims.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new weekly report on initial unemployment claims, showing there were 1,303 fewer first-time filings in Florida for the week ending June 15. There were a total of 7,597 initial claims for unemployment last week, down from the previous week’s figure of 8,900, before seasonal adjustments.

It’s the latest data in what has been a fairly mixed jobs market in Florida this year. The first-time weekly unemployment benefit claims have been fluctuating for most of this year from week to week. Last week, for instance, saw an increase of 1,649 more claims filed in the state.

The previous week’s figure also sent first-time jobless claims over the 8,000 mark for the first time this year.

But the weekly changes in unemployment claims in Florida contrast with the state’s overall jobless figures, which has remained relatively flat this year from month to month. Florida’s April total unemployment rate came in at 3.3%, a 0.1-percentage-point increase over March.

Nationally, there were 227,213 first-time unemployment claims filed across the country for the week ending June 15. That was also a dip from the previous week, when there were 236,046 new claims. That’s a drop of 8,833 claims week-to-week, or a 3.7% reduction.

That national weekly drop also reflects a notable switch from the previous week, when there was a 19.6% increase in weekly jobless filings.