Fewer people seeking unemployment aid in Florida, but a COVID surge could change that
New applications for unemployment assistance in Florida fell for the third straight week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.
But economists fear that a rebound in coronavirus cases could threaten the improvement streak.
For the week ending Oct. 31, new jobless claims in Florida totaled 28,702, down from 33,542 the week before. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance applications, or claims for aid from workers like independent contractors not eligible for traditional state assistance, also fell, from 37,201 to 33,320.
So-called continuing claims, or the number of workers who have accepted unemployment assistance for at least two consecutive weeks, increased from 282,261 to 292,588, suggesting that more recent unemployment filers are struggling to find new work.
It has been more than a month since the state uploaded any Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification layoff filings. Companies with 100 or more full-time employees must complete one in the event of worker separations.
Yet even with fewer layoffs, economists are seeing job gains slow across the country. On Wednesday, payroll services group ADP reported a 365,000 increase in private payrolls for October, well below economists’ estimates of 643,000. Even that expected figure was below the 753,000 job increase seen in September.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the official October payroll figure, to be released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, would likely come in at around 400,000 jobs added.
The drop-off is likely to be even greater in November, he said, as COVID-19 cases surge.
“People are cutting their social interactions, hurting the leisure and hospitality sectors quite badly,” he said in a note to clients this week. “This is not going to get better anytime soon.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 8:55 AM.
