Drew Dixon
The first week of December saw new unemployment insurance claims settle to more normal figures after a turbulent Fall amid two massive hurricane strikes in Florida.
There were 5,962 first-time jobless filings in Florida for the week ending Dec. 7, according to new figures published by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). That number is up from the 3,987 initial claims for the week ending Nov. 30. But that was the lowest figure for the entire year, as retailers and businesses engaged in a massive hiring influx to cover demands during the Thanksgiving week shopping blitz.
The figures for Dec. 7 are still slightly lower than most weeks this year. It’s also another indicator that the jobs market has recovered after being rocked when Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit the state within two weeks of each other.
New unemployment claims skyrocketed after Helene hit the Big Bend area Sept. 26 and then Milton plowed into the Gulf Coast on Oct. 9. The week after Helene, unemployment claims jumped to more than 8,000 in Florida. The week after Milton, jobless filings soared past 10,000 and would not fall below 8,000 in the state for another three weeks. Those figures were among the highest jobless counts in the state for the year.
Even the latest figures for the week ending Dec. 7 were lower than normal unemployment filings for most of this year. And Florida’s increase this week in new unemployment claims reflected the national figure, which also increased.
There were 310,366 first-time unemployment claims nationwide for the week ending Dec. 7. That’s a substantial increase of 99,140 filings, a whopping 46.9% weekly jump. But again, that national spike comes the week after the Thanksgiving shopping rush.
Florida’s general unemployment figure has held steady at 3.3% since April according to FloridaCommerce. That figure remains lower than the national jobless figure of 4.1% and has been lower than the national rate for 48 months straight.
