Drew Dixon
The number of first-time unemployment claims in Florida dropped for the second week in a row, as recent jobless data in the state has fluctuated.
There were 7,140 initial unemployment benefit filings for the week ending June 22 in the Sunshine State. That’s a drop by 626 first-time claims from the week before, according to the latest U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) figures.
It’s the latest update in what has been a fairly mixed jobs market in Florida this year. The first-time weekly unemployment benefit claims have been trending in different directions for most of this year from week to week.
For the week ending June 15, Florida saw a decline of more than 1,000 new jobless claims. But that followed a wild spike for the week ending June 8, when there was a surge to more than 8,000 first-time weekly unemployment claims, before seasonal adjustments.
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 May total unemployment rate came in at 3.3%, which was unchanged from the April figure.
The statewide monthly unemployment report comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting a gross domestic product (GDP) figure released this month. The GDP for Florida grew 21.9% from the first quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of this year.
On the national level, the weekly first-time unemployment number of filings also declined for the week ending June 22, before seasonal adjustments. There were 224,410 initial jobless claims in that week, a decline of 3,570, or a 1.6% decrease.
Florida has also maintained a jobless rate that remained lower than the national figure by 0.7 percentage points. It’s the 43rd straight month Florida had a lower unemployment figure than the national rate. The U.S. unemployment rate for May was 4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
