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Jobless claims show slight increase
Florida had a slight uptick in initial unemployment claims last week, but the pace remains relatively unchanged since last fall.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday released a report that estimated 5,396 first-time jobless claims were filed last week in Florida, up from a revised count of 5,093 during the week that ended April 22.
Florida has averaged 5,576 claims over the past four weeks.
Since the start of November, following a brief spike in the wake of Hurricane Ian, the weekly average stands at 5,705.
Nationally, 242,000 initial claims were filed last week, up 13,000 from the previous week.
Last week’s national total was slightly above a four-week average of 239,250 claims.
Florida had a 2.6 percent unemployment rate in March, with an estimated 283,000 Floridians out of work from a workforce of 10.92 million people.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity will release an April report on May 19.
