Florida saw 173,000 new unemployment claims last week as U.S. jobless ranks climb to over 30 million
Floridians filed 173,000 new jobless claims the week ending May 2, the U.S. Department of Labor reported — a major decline from the prior week’s total, though likely a reflection of ongoing dysfunction in the state’s unemployment filing system.
The latest figure is down nearly 260,000 from the nation-topping figure of 433,000 registered the week ending April 25. The DOL data lag behind Florida’s own unemployment scorecard, which as of May 5 showed 1.1 million unique claims filed since the onset of the pandemic.
Nationally, new jobless claims for the week came in at 3.17 million — higher than analysts’ expectations of just 3 million. Though the latest figure is down from the previous week’s 3.84 million, it means the ranks of those without jobs continue to climb at rates that belie any notion the economic crisis has plateaued.
There are now more than 30 million unemployed workers in America, representing about 20% of the U.S. workforce. In Florida, claims filed since the beginning of the pandemic represent a similar percentage, according to economic group MacroPolicy Perspectives.
The latest data come one week after Florida recorded the largest official week-on-week increase in claims of any state. Florida’s dysfunctional unemployment website has caused it to lag recording claims.
Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity is now facing a lawsuit over its handling of Florida’s unemployment filing system. And on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered an investigation into the contract with the company that built Florida’s broken unemployment website for more than $77 million seven years ago.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the latest unemployment rate for the U.S., which is expected to climb to as much as 16%.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the U.S. Department of Labor reported 433,000 initial unemployment claims for Florida for the week ending May 2. That figure represents claims for the week ending April 25.
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 8:57 AM.
