Florida jobless claims fall below 6,000
TALLAHASSEE - First-time unemployment claims in Florida last week continued dropping toward levels from before Hurricane Ian.
The U.S. Department of Labor released a report Thursday that said an estimated 5,889 initial claims were filed during the week that ended November 12th, down from a revised count of 7,412 during the week that ended November 5th.
The new number was the lowest weekly total since Ian hit southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm on September 28th.
The state has received an estimated 56,716 claims in the six weeks since the storm, an average of 9,453 a week. In the six weeks before Ian, Florida averaged 5,528 new claims.
Nationally, the report estimated 222,000 new claims were filed last week, down 4,000 from the week that ended November 5th. Florida had a 2.5 percent unemployment rate in September. Ian hit after the September data was collected.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is scheduled to release an October unemployment report Friday.