Florida sees upbeat trend with a drop in new unemployment claims to start 2025

The number of first-time unemployment claims in Florida dropped. Image via AP.

New unemployment claims decreased in Florida for the week ending Jan. 2, though the figures have been notably adjusted due to the holidays.

There were 3,323 new jobless benefit claims in the state, according to new Department of Labor (DOL) figures. The current level is 323 claims fewer than the same period a year ago.

It’s also 1,843 fewer claims than the week ending Dec. 26, according to DOL numbers. That initial report for the week ending Dec. 26 was for a shortened week, as new unemployment claims normally run through each Saturday. The first seasonally unadjusted report for the previous report from DOL said there was a revised figure to 5,166.

The latest DOL data shows that Florida, for the second week in a row, bucked a national trend of increasing new unemployment claims. There were 282,998 total jobless claims across the United States for the week ending Jan. 2. That’s an increase of 7,441, or a 2.7% jump in unemployment figures. It’s also an uptick in new filings for the same period a year ago when there were 269,409 claims filed across America.

Florida’s numbers show a substantial decrease from previous weeks when first-time unemployment filings hovered above 6,000 after the Thanksgiving week report. That week saw the lowest figure of the year, when unemployment claims dipped below 4,000 for the first time in 2024. Holiday hiring in advance of Black Friday shopping accounted for the dramatic decrease at the end of November.

The same can be said for the close of December when retailers were stocking up on workers in stores in order to brace for the final push of those buying gifts at the last moment before Christmas and handling post-Christmas returns and cleanup shopping.

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%.