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Following two month rise, Florida's unemployment claims down last week
First-time unemployment claims dipped in Florida last week after slowly rising over the past two months.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimated Thursday that Florida had 5,446 initial claims last week, down from a revised count of 6,619 during the week that ended April 9.
The Department of Labor report followed the state Department of Economic Opportunity last Friday reporting Florida’s unemployment rate dipped from 3.3 percent in February to 3.2 percent in March.
The March unemployment rate, which was down from 5.4 percent a year earlier, represented an estimated 339,000 Floridians qualified as out of work from a labor force of 10.51 million.
From February to March, 8,000 more people found work in Florida, while the labor force grew by 42,000.
Meanwhile, Department of Labor reports have indicated slight increases in all but one week in Florida since the week ending Feb. 26, when a 15-year low of 3,328 claims were filed.
Over the past four weeks, the state has averaged 5,431 new claims, and since the start of the year the average stands at 5,847 a week.
