After hitting a pandemic low, new unemployment filings in Florida climb again
One week after hitting a pandemic low, new unemployment filings in Florida climbed back up — a sign that the state’s economy remains distressed.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that Florida workers filed 66,322 new claims for unemployment assistance for the week ending Aug. 15, an increase of 4,738.
The U.S. as a whole also saw an increase in new claims, after similarly hitting a new low in the previous week. Initial filings climbed back up by 135,000 to 1,106,000, the Labor Department said Thursday, after falling to fewer than one million for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak.
Thursday’s figure surprised economists, who had expected about 920,000 new claims, Bloomberg reported.
Florida’s continuing claims count — or the number of individuals filing for unemployment for at least two consecutive weeks — fell by 80,883, to 487,104. That is still far above the state’s pre-pandemic range of 30,000 to 35,000.
Since Aug. 1, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s website shows Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications totaling nearly 5,000 layoffs. Among them was HMSHost, one of the largest airport subcontractors in the United States, which gave notice Aug. 12 that it was laying off about 1,900 workers across Florida.
This week, the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting announced new estimates for statewide gross domestic product and unemployment in 2020. The Institute said GDP would contract 6%, while unemployment would level off at 8.2%.
Thursday’s Labor Department release covers the first week since President Donald Trump announced an executive order offering states the opportunity to take $300 in federal unemployment assistance if they kicked in $100. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the offer was “not an option” for Florida, citing existing financial obligations.
It’s also the first since the expiration of the Paycheck Protection Program — financial assistance designed to help small businesses avoid layoffs
“Trump’s executive actions did not cover PPP and, with Congress remaining gridlocked on phase four [of discussions for another stimulus package], failure to extend support remains a downside risk for the labor market in August,” said Lewis Alexander, an economist with financial group Nomura, in a note to clients last Friday.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
