Ian boosts Florida’s jobless claims. State scraps ‘waiting week’ for unemployment pay
As Florida continues recovering from Hurricane Ian, first-time unemployment claims in the state are coming in at the highest numbers of the year.
The U.S. Department of Labor released a report that estimated 11,078 new claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended Oct. 15, down from a revised count of 14,934 during the week that ended Oct. 8. While the total fell, it was only the third time this year that Florida’s seven-day total topped 10,000 claims.
The state recorded 10,103 claims during the first week of 2022. Florida has averaged 6,155 claims a week this year. Nationally, an estimated 214,000 claims were filed last week, down 12,000 from the previous week.
On Friday, state labor market officials said Florida’s already-low unemployment rate dipped to 2.5% in September, though the numbers don’t take into account economic effects from Hurricane Ian. A state economist said that the October unemployment level will show an effect from the Category 4 storm, which made landfall Sept. 28 in Southwest Florida, but wouldn’t speculate on the possibilities.
In anticipation of more claims after the hurricane, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity eliminated what is known as the “waiting week” before unemployment benefits can be paid on claims made in storm-damaged areas.
The agency also suspended a requirement that applicants in the areas contact five potential employers a week to keep unemployment benefits flowing.
The Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday will release a September unemployment report. But that will reflect conditions in mid-September, before Hurricane Ian made landfall Sept. 28 in Southwest Florida and crossed the state. Florida had a 2.7 percent unemployment rate in August, with an estimated 293,000 residents out of work from a labor force of 10.706 million. The Department of Labor has estimated the country added 263,000 jobs in September, with the national unemployment rate dropping from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent.
