The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,398 new unemployment claims were filed in Florida last week, down from a revised count of 6,393 during the week that ended Dec. 10.
The state has averaged 5,573 claims over the past four weeks, slightly higher than the 5,532-claim weekly average from the start of February to the end of September before Hurricane Ian hit.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity last week said Florida’s unemployment rate decreased from 2.7 percent in October to 2.6 percent in November.
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The November rate represented 280,000 Floridians out-of-work from a labor force of 10.756 million. The national unemployment rate was 3.7 percent.
Nationally, 216,000 claims were filed last week, up 2,000 from the week ending Dec. 10 but lower than the 222,000 forecast by economists.
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