Florida unemployment claims increase slightly
TALLAHASSEE -- For the first time in six weeks. Florida had a slight uptick in initial unemployment claims last week, while the overall number nationally fell.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday issued a report that estimated 5,141 new claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended March 11, up from a revised count of 4,865 during the week that ended March 4.
Nationally, 192,000 applications for unemployment benefits were filed last week, down 20,000 from the previous week.
While Florida's total inched up for the first time since the start of February, it was still the second-lowest number since the start of the year.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity on Monday said the state had a 2.6 percent unemployment rate in January, down from a revised rate of 2.7 percent in December.
That represented an estimated 286,000 Floridians qualified as out of work in January from a workforce of 10.855 million.
The department will release a February unemployment report on March 24.