Florida unemployment claims surge even as U.S. shows signs of recovery
Initial unemployment claims continue to surge in Florida, even as jobless filings in the rest of the United States decline.
New claims for the week ending May 30 increased by 31,083 to 206,494 in the Sunshine State.
Florida’s unemployment data continues to fluctuate. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported the state’s insured unemployment rate, a lagging indicator that reflects the percentage of ongoing unemployment filers in the state workforce, climbed to 25% for the week of May 16.
For the week of May 23, the latest week for which data is available, the rate plummeted surprisingly to 6.16%. It is not clear what caused the dramatic decrease, but it may reflect the state’s ongoing difficulty in processing claims.
Representatives for the DOL and Florida Department of Economic Opportunity did not respond to requests for comment.
Nationally, new claims decreased by 249,000 to 1,877,000. Still, the overall U.S. increase means some 43 million Americans have now filed for unemployment since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the state of Florida’s unemployment dashboard, 1.84 million Floridians have filed for unemployment since March 15. Meanwhile, there is a queue of 244,030 claims to be processed — meaning the number of out-of-work Floridians could pass 2 million in a matter of days. It would mean about one in four Floridians have filed for unemployment, about equal to other hard-hit tourism-based economies like Nevada and Maine.
Florida recently added a “virtual waiting room” to its unemployment website. According to reporting by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times, this feature has added to online filers’ frustrations as they wait for their claims to be registered. A recent Times/Herald investigation found evidence disputing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ claim that delays in processing have been due to incomplete applications.
Meanwhile, unemployed Floridians are waiting to learn whether DeSantis will sign an executive order exempting them from reporting the results of their job searches every week starting June 14.
Despite the reopening of hotels in Miami-Dade, major lodgings continue to lay off workers. Last week, the Loews and Delano hotels in Miami Beach announced temporary and permanent layoffs totaling nearly 1,000 workers.
At the same time, there are local signs echoing the recovery indicated by national data. Hotel occupancy is slowly increasing. Statewide consumer confidence has stabilized. And with Universal Orlando Resort opening this week, statewide unemployment rates will likely improve.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 8:58 AM.
