Florida’s new unemployment claims decrease for second week in a row

The U.S. unemploynet ticked up a bit. Image via AP.

Florida’s weekly unemployment claims dropped for the second week in a row for the week ending Jan. 25.

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) data released Thursday show 5,530 first-time jobless unemployment benefit filings last week in Florida. That’s down 1,248 from the previous week’s number of 6,778, before seasonal adjustments.

It’s the second week in a row in January that new unemployment claims saw a significant dip in the Sunshine State. The previous week’s figures were down nearly 1,000 claims from the week ending Jan. 11.

The weekly report comes on the heels of the FloridaCommerce release of the general monthly unemployment rate. Florida’s jobless figure held steady at 3.4% for December, the same as the past several months. And even before that, Florida’s monthly unemployment rate remained flat at 3.3% for seven months in 2024, reflecting a solid jobs picture.

Florida’s December unemployment rate continues the state’s streak of remaining lower than the national average. It’s been 50 months straight the Sunshine State unemployment rate has been below the national level, which is now 4.1%.

While the  general unemployment rate remains steady, state officials noted the number of jobs in Florida have been increasing. December saw 17,900 private-sector jobs added compared to November. The number of private jobs compared to a year ago has increased by 122,800. The increase outpaced the national private sector job growth of 1.3% in the same time span.

Florida’s weekly jobless claims reflected the national trend for the week ending Jan. 25. DOL noted there were a total of 227,362 new unemployment claims across the country last week. That’s down 56,963 claims from the previous week. That amounts to a 20% drop week-over-week.

DOL figures for the past four weeks of first-time unemployment claims came out to an average of 212,500 claims per week throughout the U.S.