Florida’s jobless claims increase
1,700 airport-restaurant workers face job cuts
In another round of COVID-19 fallout hitting the travel industry, more than 1,700 airport-restaurant workers from South Florida to Orlando are awaiting word about whether their jobs will be eliminated in mid-October.
The layoff notices come as Florida’s first-time unemployment claims rose slightly for the week ended Aug. 15, breaking a three-week string of declines. The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday reported the state’s figure at 66,322, an increase of 4,738 from the 61,584 filings the week before.
Nationally, claims jumped back over 1 million, rising by 135,000 from the previous week to 1.106 million.
“One has to be disappointed to see the rebound in new claims for unemployment benefits, including gains for several key states including New York, New Jersey, Texas and Florida,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “New unemployment claims have remained remarkably elevated for 22 consecutive weeks coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Questions about the economic recovery have left most industries unable to plan for even the nearterm. As a result, consumer service industries such as travel and hospitality are all hedging their hiring bets, extending furloughs and eliminating jobs.
HMSHost of Maryland, which operates many airport restaurants across South Florida and around the world, said temporary furloughs that have been in place since the spring “will be converted to permanent layoffs on Oct. 15 if [workers] have not been recalled by Oct. 15.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the travel and restaurant industries, and, unfortunately, HMSHost sits at the crossroads of both,” the company said
in a filing with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. “Never in the history of the hospitality industry have we experienced such catastrophic customer traffic declines.”
In Broward County, HMSHost runs several restaurants at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport, including Air Margaritaville, BurgerFi, La Familia, Offerdahl’s Café, Red Stripe bar, Shula’s, Shake Shack and Flash
Fire Pizza. It also runs restaurants at other major airports around Florida.
In its filing with the state, the company said 533 employees would be affected in Fort Lauderdale, 141 at Palm Beach International Airport, 445 at Miami International Airport and 782 at Orlando International Airport. The workers in jeopardy include include managers, baristas, cashiers, stock clerks and utility workers, according to filings covering workers at each airport.
The planned layoffs coincide with announcements by the major airlines that layoffs and furloughs are likely after Oct. 1.
Despite a slight recovery in passenger traffic nationwide over the summer, managements say that travel levels have not returned to anywhere near pre-pandemic levels earlier this year. Government figures show the Transportation Security Administration screened an average of 708,684 people daily in August, down 71% from 2019.
American Airlines announced Thursday it is suspending service to 15 small U.S. cities in October after federal aid requiring the flights expires Oct. 1. The airlines has said it may have to suspend 30 routes. Delta Air Line has said it plans cutbacks, and discount carrier Spirit Airlines of Miramar has said it is cutting 2,500 people from its payroll systemwide amid service reductions.
Silence on federal benefits
As uncertainty continues to dominate the job market, the state of Florida still has offered no clue as to whether it intends to follow up on President Donald Trump’s executive order to help fund and distribute a partial extension of the now expired federal unemployment benefits.
Under the order, the government would fund $300 while the states would contribute $100 for a total of $400.
The federal benefits would be on top of the normal weekly payouts made by the states. In Florida’s case, that would be $275 before taxes.
As of Tuesday, the state DEO had paid 1,890,526 people more than $13.9 billion since midMarch, with the majority of the benefits coming from the federal $600 weekly payout that expired at the end of July.