Unemployment claims fall in Florida for the third straight week

Unemployment claims in Florida continue to trend downward, even as the COVID-19 pandemic shows few signs of slowing in the state.

Florida workers filed 73,955 new unemployment claims for the week ending Aug. 1, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. This is the third straight week the number has gone down.

Jobless claims, first-time applications for unemployment benefits, stood at 87,062 in Florida the week before.

Nationally, the figure also decreased with 1,186,000 claims filed. That number is 249,000 down from the previous week’s claims of 1,434,000.

“I remain really optimistically cautious but as many of us know in Florida, our economy is so reliant on tourism and events production and those are two sectors that will be the last to recover,” said state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, D-Orlando.

Eskamani said she’s worried the number will fluctuate as furloughs become layoffs, particularly in regions of the state that are tourism-heavy such as Central Florida and coastal areas.

“At this point many of the professions folks have had their entire lives are not going to come back at the level they were before tat least not any time soon,” she added. “We have to consider universal training opportunities and investing in jobs that are pandemic-related that can complement skills and build new skills.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 9:03 AM.