Drew Dixon
Florida finished 2024 on a good note when it comes to new unemployment claims, as there was a decline in filings for jobless benefits in the final full week of the year.
There were 4,497 new unemployment claims for the week ending on Dec. 26 before seasonal adjustments, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). That’s down by 1,522 new claims for the week ending Dec. 21, when there were 6,049 claims.
The decline in jobless filings indicates a return to extended stability on the unemployment front for Florida after extreme swings following two major hurricanes within as many weeks. Hurricane Helene hit the Big Bend area of Florida on Sept. 26. That storm caused what was then the biggest spike of the year in unemployment claims, when there were more than 8,000 filings the week after the storm.
Hurricane Milton the ripped into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Oct. 9. That tropical blast caused a spike in unemployment claims that exceeded 10,000 in Florida for the week immediately after the storm, and those numbers did not fall below 8,000 until three weeks after Milton.
The most recent decrease puts Florida’s numbers at the lowest figures seen in the state this year, aside from the week leading up to the Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping period when retailers in the state rushed to get as many workers in stores as they could. Initial jobless claims that week fell below 4,000 for the only time this year.
The latest drop is likely due to another push by retailers to hire more workers to handle the last-minute rush of Christmastime shoppers.
The drop in unemployment insurance claims in Florida bucked the national trend. DOL numbers show there were 274,734 new unemployment insurance claims nationally during the same week. That’s an increase of 22,663 over the previous week, a 9% jump before seasonal adjustments.
Florida’s general monthly unemployment figures also remained fairly stable for the most part of 2024. November did see a slight uptick in the jobless numbers, which ticked up to 3.4%, the first increase since April. The figure had remained flat at 3.3% before the change, according to FloridaCommerce.
Florida’s unemployment rate has remained lower than the national figure for 49 straight months. The national jobless rate now stands at 4.2%.
