Some help for Florida’s unemployed: Job search requirement suspended for much longer

Gov. Ron DeSantis is suspending Florida’s unemployment work search requirements for another three months, he announced Friday.

Until Dec. 5, Floridians won’t have to obey the state’s strict work-search quotas, which require applicants to report five new job searches per week to keep their benefits.

Florida’s economy is showing signs of a recovery, with the number of new claims falling to 39,335 for the week ending Aug. 29, the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 400,000 Floridians received benefits that week.

DeSantis started waiving the work-search requirements at the beginning of the pandemic, so that Floridians could more easily qualify for benefits. He’s renewed the waiver a handful of times.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 3:59 PM.