Labor Department: Florida’s new unemployment claims increase to start May

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

New unemployment claims in Florida ticked up for the first time in nearly a month for the week ending May 3.

A new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) report showed the first increase in new unemployment claims in the state in three weeks. There were 6,227 initial unemployment claims for the week ending May 3. That was a modest increase of 385 claims from the week ending April 26, when there were 5,842 filings.

It’s the first time Florida’s weekly unemployment claims have exceeded 6,000 in about a month. Despite the latest DOL report, new unemployment claims have generally been decreasing for most of this year.

The latest Sunshine State jobless claims report goes against the trend across America. DOL figures show there were 206,937 initial unemployment benefit claims filed across the country last week. That’s down by 16,972 claims, a notable 7.6% decline.

The drop in national new unemployment claims was more substantial than DOL analysts had anticipated. Researchers projected a drop of 4,584 claims, an expected decrease of 2%.

The latest national unemployment claims report was also upbeat in the year-over-year comparison. There were 210,050 initial claims filed in the comparable week in 2024, a drop of 1.5% year-to-year.

Florida’s general unemployment rate has reflected the weekly trends. The jobless rate held steady for months at 3.4% through the end 2024. The first two months of 2025 saw the unemployment rate tick up slightly, to 3.5% then to 3.6%. But that figure remained the same in March, according to FloridaCommerce.

Florida’s unemployment rate still remains lower than the national rate, which has held steady at 4.2% in March and April. It’s the 53rd month in a row the Sunshine State has had a lower rate than the national figure.