Drew Dixon
After a brutal October where first-time weekly unemployment claims skyrocketed in Florida following back-to-back hurricanes within two weeks, new jobless filings in the state have finally returned to more normal figures.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported that there were 6,590 unemployment insurance benefit claims in the Sunshine State for the week ending Nov. 2. That’s the first time weekly jobless claims fell below 8,000 since nearly the beginning of October.
Following Hurricane Helene, which struck the Big Bend on Sept. 26, weekly unemployment claims spiked to more than 9,000 for the week ending Oct. 5.
Numbers dropped the following week before Hurricane Milton slammed the Gulf Coast on Oct. 9, then plowed through the peninsula and exited into the Atlantic Ocean Oct. 10. That left a trail of destruction and thousands of Floridians without jobs after businesses had to close or were entirely wiped out.
There were more than 10,000 new weekly jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 19, the highest level of weekly jobless numbers this year, and a sharp contrast to a relatively stable unemployment pace throughout the Summer and into early Fall. There were still another 8,108 unemployment claims for the week ending Oct. 26 before seasonal adjustments, still high compared to most weeks this year.
The most recent weekly jobless claims report dropped nearly 1,800 filings from that Oct. 26 report. It also ended Florida’s dubious run of several weeks where the state had an increase of jobless filings compared to the national trend.
The national numbers had been falling, but saw an increase in first-time claims for the week ending Nov. 2. There were 212,274 initial jobless filings across the country for that week, before seasonal adjustments. That’s a jump nationally of 10,827 new unemployment filings in the U.S., or a 5.4% hike.
