Florida jobless numbers jump
New unemployment claims among Floridians surged to 40,200 for the week ended Oct. 3 as airlines and other businesses tied to tourism laid off or furloughed more workers and the COVID-19 pandemic kept weighing heavily on hiring decisions.
The state’s claims figure jumped by 7,827 from the 32,373 filings the week before, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The previous week saw the state post a pandemic low in filings and continue a string of weekly declines. Nationally, the figure for initial claims was 840,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 849,000.
“New claims appear tohave settled into a still historically high pattern, numbering in the 800,000 range since late August,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.
“Putting a damper on forecasts for broad, near-term economic improvement are the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and the dim prospects for further substantial federal relief legislation,” he said. “Many Americans are still facing the prospect of layoffs, and businesses of all sizes are facing the threat of failure, reduced sales and or capacity.”
Florida’s spike in initial claims appear to be tied in part to Oct. 1 layoffs imposed in the airline industry and extended furloughs among businesses that support it.
Last Thursday, American Airlines dropped 2,000 people in South Florida as part of a systemwide layoff of 19,000 in the absence of renewed payroll aid from the U.S. government.
A United Airlines layoff ofmore than13,000 affected hundreds of workers in Florida. In addition, companies in the hospitality and leisure industry continued to extend furloughs amid uncertainties buffeting the tourism industry.
A key problem facing hotel and restaurant owners and managements is an inability to project when visitors will return in force to Florida, particularly for the forthcoming tourism season.
The Canadian border remains closed through Nov. 21, upsetting the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of visitors who annually visit Sun Belt states.
And airlines don’t expect a strong showing of U.S. domestic travelers this winter, either, as exhibited by their decisions to proceed with mass layoffs, job sharing measures and flight cutbacks. In a filing with the state Department of Economic Opportunity this week, the popular P.F. Chang’s China Bistro chain of restaurants said it likely will have to extend a policy of reduced hours for more than 1,000 employees around the state, including those working at locations in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens.
The policy, inaugurated in March, affects those employed by the company for more than six months and who averaged more than 20 hours aweek.
As of August, the latest month for which data is available, Florida’s unemployment rate was 7.4%, down from11.4% in July.
There were 753,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 10,138,000. The jobless rates in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties were all slightly below10%.
The state’s total nonagricultural employment was 8,525,100 in August, an increase of 57,900 jobs over July. But year over year, the state lost 456,100 jobs.
U.S. Secretary of Labor EugeneScalia said lastweek that “large gains” were made nationally in the recovery of lower-wage jobs in retail and leisure and hospitality. Meanwhile, manufacturing added 66,000 jobs, the category’s largest increase since June.
“More than half the jobs lost from the pandemic have nowbeen restored,” he said.
Still, layoffs in Florida continue to plague the agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade and service industries.
As of Tuesday, the state Department of Economic Opportunity had paid 2,029,401 people more than $17 billion in state and federal benefits since midMarch, with most of the money coming from Washington.