Drew Dixon
First-time unemployment claims dropped for the week ending Jan. 18 in Florida.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reports there were 6,528 new unemployment benefit filings in the state that week. That’s a drop of 997 claims from the week prior, before seasonal adjustments.
The newest number is down from the 7,525 first-time claims for the week ending Jan. 11. That week signaled a return to normal staffing for many retailers in Florida that were coming out of the holiday shopping season, which usually requires huge increases in employees. New jobless claims plummeted below 4,000 for much of that holiday stretch.
The current figures reflect a return to stabilized new unemployment claims in Florida. The claims did dramatically increase after Hurricane Helene in September and Hurricane Milton in October. Shortly after Helene hit the Big Bend on Sept. 26, initial jobless claims jumped above 8,000. Following Milton slamming the Gulf Coast on Oct. 9, first-time claims skyrocketed past 10,000. It took three weeks before that figure would fall below 8,000 again.
The impact from those storms on the jobs picture in Florida appears to have faded.
The drop in Florida’s new unemployment claims echoed the national trend. There were 284,222 filings across the country for the week ending Jan. 18. That’s a sizable decrease of 68,135 from the week ending Jan. 11, or a 19.3% drop.
While DOL officials note that the trend is heading in the right direction on the national level, it wasn’t as much of a drop as projected before seasonal adjustments. DOL analysts said they expected a decline of some 75,722 first-time claims for the week, which would have been a 21.5% decrease. Comparing year-over-year claims, there were 249,947 claims for the same period last year.
In the broader picture, unemployment figures for Florida were fairly stable for most of the past year. The general unemployment rate held steady at 3.3% for most of 2024, though that figure ticked up to 3.4% in November. FloridaCommerce is expected to release the latest jobless rate for December within days.
Florida’s unemployment rate has remained lower than the national figure for 49 straight months. The national jobless rate now stands at 4.2%.
