First-time unemployment claims in Florida dropped about 25 percent last week, while claims nationally were the lowest since April.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday issued a report that estimated 5,271 unemployment applications were filed in Florida during the week that ended Jan. 21, down from 7,121 during the week that ended Jan. 14.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor estimated the number of claims nationally dropped to 186,000 last week, after 192,000 were filed the previous week.
Last week’s total was the lowest since 181,00 claims were filed during the week that ended April 23.
The federal report came after the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday said the state’s unemployment rate in December was 2.5 percent, down from 2.6 percent in November.
The December rate represented 271,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed from a workforce of 10.76 million.
The national unemployment rate in December was 3.5 percent, representing 5.7 million people out of work.