Unemployment aid in Florida hits pandemic low as U.S. job openings recover. Will it last?
New applications for unemployment assistance in Florida hit a pandemic low last week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday, as economists look for economic gains to hold amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Unemployment claims in the Sunshine State fell from 31,625 to 28,128 for the week ending Nov. 7 — the first time Florida’s figures have fallen below 30,000 since the pandemic roared to life in March.
For the U.S., claims fell from 757,000 to 709,000, the biggest drop in five weeks.
The latest data comes as job openings have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. State-level data job openings data was not immediately available.
Layoffs in Florida have continued, even if at a slower pace.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity recently updated its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification site with new layoff notices from a host of hospitality and service-related firms, including the Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel, Soho House Beach House, the Four Seasons’ property in Surfside, and Elite Laundry Services of Florida in Medley, which caters to the airline industry. The Grand Lux Cafe in Aventura also announced it would be shutting down effective Dec. 31.
Despite 12 straight weeks of U.S. jobless application declines, some economists now fear the descent could stall as COVID-19 caseloads surge across the U.S.
“The rate of decline is now very slow, and we expect to see claims begin to rise again over the next few weeks, as the massive wave of COVID infections hits the services sector,” said research group Pantheon Macroeconomics’ chief economist, Ian Shepherdson, in a note to clients earlier this week.
Another economist said the shape of the recovery was now becoming clear.
“In the near term, the resurgence of the virus is beginning to make new worries,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management Inc., said on Bloomberg TV Wednesday. “It looks like this will end up being a W-shaped recovery.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
