unemployment

First-time unemployment claims fell in Florida last week, while the U.S. Department of Labor also vastly reduced its estimate of claims for the prior week. The department reported Thursday an estimated 26,559 new unemployment claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended Jan. 16.

A top Florida economist told lawmakers Thursday that financial problems could linger for a couple of years because of the resurging coronavirus pandemic, as first-time unemployment claims tripled in the first full week of 2021.

Extended unemployment benefits included in the latest federal stimulus package are starting to become available for Floridians out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, the state Department of Economic Opportunity said Monday.

The state’s jobs agency had not posted a timetable about the extended benefits, and no formal announcement had been made about whether Floridians will be covered for the current week because of when the $900 billion federal package was signed.

Congress passed the long-sought $900 billion COVID-19 relief package this week, teeing it up for action by Trump. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday estimated that another 24,000 first-time jobless claims were filed in Florida last week, close to the state average for more than a month.

The state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday posted a 6.4 percent jobless rate for November, equal to a revised jobless mark for October. The rate indicates 651,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in mid-November, just 7,000 fewer than a month earlier.

Some states carved out single-day poll workers from being denied unemployment benefits. Florida did not.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 21,780 new unemployment applications were filed in Florida during the week that ended Dec. 12, down 25 percent from a revised projection for the previous week.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimated 25,012 initial jobless claims were submitted in Florida during the week that ended Dec. 5, up from 23,063 claims during the previous week, which included Thanksgiving.

The Labor Department is expected to report Friday a sharp slowdown in job growth in November as a surge in coronavirus cases weighs on many businesses.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 20,787 new jobless claims were filed in Florida during the holiday-shortened week that ended Nov. 28. That was an estimated 23 percent reduction in new claims from the prior week.

The state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday announced a 6.5 percent unemployment rate for October, down from a revised 7.2 percent in September. The new rate is based on mid-October data.