New weekly jobless claims spike big in Florida after Hurricane Milton

Image via AP.

Hurricane Milton did more than pound the Florida peninsula Oct. 9 and 10, wreaking havoc on structures and people. It also delivered a powerful punch to the state’s employment.

First-time unemployment claims for the week ending Oct. 19 saw the biggest increase for one week this year and the total number of initial jobless claims were highest this year. There were 10,574 initial unemployment filings last week, the highest number of single-week claims this year before seasonal adjustments, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced Thursday. That’s up 4,275 claims from the week ending Oct. 12, the biggest weekly jump this year.

Hurricane Milton appears to have hit jobs in Florida harder than Hurricane Helene, which slammed the Gulf Coast Sept. 26. That week saw 9,377 initial unemployment claims, at the time the highest number of filings this year. That was up 3,842 claims over the previous week.

But the week ending Oct. 12 saw a return to more normal new jobless claims as that figure dropped by 3,428 filings to 6,128, which is consistent for most of this year.

Florida’s most recent jobs report was also at odds with national trends, another sign that Milton impacted employment significantly. Usually, Florida falls in line with the national trend, but not so last week. Nationally, the number of unemployment claims actually decreased, according to the DOL. There were 227,000 initial claims last week, down by about 15,000 from the previous week.

The initial unemployment claims for the week ending Oct. 19 also counter FloridaCommerce’s recent report showing the general monthly unemployment figures were holding steady at 3.3% for the month of September. Florida hasn’t seen that monthly figure change for six straight months and the last time there was even a slight uptick in the general monthly jobless figure was in early Spring.

Florida’s monthly unemployment rate has remained below the national figure for 47 straight months. The national rate now stands at 4.1%.