New weekly unemployment claims in Florida touch post-pandemic low
About 110,520 new unemployment claims were filed in Florida last week — a sign that the ranks of newly jobless may be leveling off.
The new data point for the week ending June 6 was down 47% from the 207,707 who filed in the week prior. It’s the lowest figure registered since March 26, when the coronavirus pandemic was just taking off.
At the same time, the number of Floridians who continue to file for unemployment after making an initial claim surged by more than 300,000, to 936,548. That’s the fourth most in the U.S., trailing only California, New York and Texas. It suggests 11% of the state’s workforce remains unemployed.
For the U.S., more than 1.5 million new jobless claims were filed for the week, a decrease of 355,000 from the previous week, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
This week, the efficacy of Florida’s unemployment system was questioned by members of the U.S. Senate.
“While all states have seen record increases in the number of its residents applying for unemployment,” the letter from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., states, “the state of Florida’s performance has proved uniquely poor in its abject inability to assist millions of Florida residents who have applied for and continue to await unemployment benefits.”
Called before Congress, Democratic state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez told senators Florida’s unemployment system, which was implemented by Republican Sen. Rick Scott when he was governor of Florida, “suffered from willful neglect for a long time.”
According to Florida’s unemployment dashboard, 1.9 million unique claimants have filed for unemployment since March 15, with 97.3% of these having been paid.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 8:59 AM.
