Drew Dixon
Following a brief uptick earlier this month, new Florida unemployment claims dropped slightly for the week ending April 12.
There were 6,629 first-time Florida jobless filings that week, per the latest report from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). That’s down by 63 claims for the week ending April 5, when there were 6,692 claims. That week saw the first increase in about a month, and was one of the few times this year there were more than 6,000 filings.
Most weeks in 2025 have seen first-time claims dropping, and any increases have been limited. The latest Florida jobless report also cut against the national trend. DOL analysts reported that there were 219,710 first-time unemployment claims for the week ending April 15 across America, which also represented a slight increase. That’s up by 3,178 filings, or 1.5%.
While an uptick, it’s much more modest than DOL analysts had expected. Researchers projected there would be an increase of 12,303 national claims, or a 5.7% jump.
The latest national figure is up substantially from the same comparative week in April 2024, when there were 209,064 claims.
Florida’s monthly unemployment rate has been increasing slightly, rising to 3.5% in January then ticking up to 3.6% in February. That figure remained the same in March.
The state’s unemployment rate had held steady at 3.4% for most of the back half of 2024. The Florida rate was as low as 3.2% last year, with that mark last seen in March 2024.
Florida’s unemployment rate still remains lower than the national rate, which ticked up to 4.2% in March. It’s the 53rd month in a row the Sunshine State has had a lower rate than the national figure
FloridaCommerce reported there were 403,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 11.198 million in March.
Monroe County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 2.4%, followed closely by Miami-Dade at 2.8%.
Fort Lauderdale recorded a 3.3% unemployment rate, and Orlando and West Palm Beach each had a 3.4% jobless rate in March.
Among larger metropolitan areas, Fort Myers and Pensacola saw a 3.7% jobless rate last month. Jacksonville was just behind those areas at 3.6%, and Tampa was at 3.5%.
All the local metro area unemployment rates increased year-to-year when compared to March 2024.
