U.S. jobless claims rise to 4.4 million as new Florida claims hit 505,000
More than four million jobless claims were filed in the week ending April 18, bringing the total to 26 million claims in the past five weeks, new U.S. Department of Labor data show.
In Florida, about 505,000 claims were filed. That’s a jump of more than 350,000 from the prior week, likely reflecting improvements in the state’s previously outdated unemployment filing system.
The Sunshine State has seen more than 1 million jobless claims in the past five weeks, since the COVID-19 outbreak hit. Because filers may have filed multiple times, total claims do not necessarily reflect the total number of jobless. Florida’s newly released unemployment dashboard shows 680,000 unique claims had been filed in the past month, with about 29% processed and 16% claimants paid.
Last week, the state reported an initial March unemployment rate of 4.3%. It will next report that rate in late May.
The new dashboard also shows that about 67,000 workers in Miami-Dade have filed for unemployment and 52,000 in Broward as of April 21. Statewide, it shows more than 115,000 accommodation and food service workers have filed.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 9:04 AM.
