Unemployment applications in Florida decline for first time in weeks
After two straight weeks of increases, new applications for unemployment assistance in Florida declined, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday — a sign that the wave of layoffs sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic might be ebbing.
For the week ending Oct. 17, the state saw 35,960 new claims for assistance, compared with 47,904 claims in the week before.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification site has not posted any new layoff notices since Oct. 7, although there can sometimes be a delay in processing them.
So-called continuing claims, or applications for assistance from individuals applying for assistance for at least two consecutive weeks, also fell on the week, from 300,115 to 232,338. However, economists believe some decline in continuing claims is likely the result of workers running out of weeks to claim assistance. In Florida, state-run unemployment benefits last 12 weeks.
At this point, workers can begin claiming an additional 13 weeks of federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation. Although Florida does not report the number of individuals claiming PEUC assistance, for the U.S., PEUC claims have been climbing in recent weeks. The most recent week reported, Oct. 3, saw an increase of 509,823 PEUC claims.
Florida reported an increase in federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance in the most recent week, from 27,079 to 49,641. PUA assistance is for individuals, such as gig workers and the self-employed, not eligible for regular state assistance. In Florida’s most recent monthly jobs report, selfemployed workers and those not listing an industry comprised the largest share of the newly unemployed.
For the U.S., new, seasonally adjusted unemployment claims fell from 842,000 to 787,000. Economists were expecting 870,000 new claims. Bloomberg reported that much of the national decline was driven by California, which had paused reporting to deal with a huge backlog of new claims.