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Florida’s unemployment claims spike as national numbers hold steady

For the first time since mid-August, the state saw a jump in new jobless claims last week.
 
Vehicles drive past a "now hiring" sign as they enter a parking lot at Home Depot on Sept. 30, 2020 in Boston. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits last week sat at 840,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer.
Vehicles drive past a "now hiring" sign as they enter a parking lot at Home Depot on Sept. 30, 2020 in Boston. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits last week sat at 840,000, evidence that the economy is struggling to sustain a tentative recovery that began this summer. [ STEVEN SENNE | AP ]
Published Oct. 8, 2020

New unemployment claims in Florida shot up last week for the first time since mid-August, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Another 40,200 Floridians filed for unemployment benefits for the week ending Oct. 3 ― an increase of more than 7,800 from the previous week’s revised number, and the largest single-week leap of any state in the nation.

The spike comes as the nation’s overall number of new jobless claims continues its incrementally decline. Another 840,000 people filed their initial unemployment claims last week, a slight decrease from the previous week. It’s the sixth straight week that new claims have hovered between 840,000 and 893,000 — a range far greater than any other pre-coronavirus weeks on record.

(The national numbers, which are adjusted to take into account normal seasonal employment swings, reflect more of a guesstimate than usual, as California is temporarily not reporting new data while it undergoes an internal review of state unemployment operations.)

This week, Florida surpassed more than $17 billion in paid claims shepherded to 2.03 million residents. About 81 percent of that has come in the form of federal relief.

Florida’s surge last week in new claims — a number that is almost certain to be revised upward next week — comes as more high-profile companies in the state confirm mass layoffs.

On Wednesday, the Services Trade Council Union, a coalition of six unions representing 43,000 Walt Disney World employees, said the park had officially laid off 5,299 full-time and 8,857 part-time workers in Central Florida. Those workers are among the 28,000 company-wide whose furloughs were converted to full-time layoffs in late September.

Elsewhere in Florida, P.F. Chang’s reduced hours for at least 950 workers in Florida, as it has for thousands of employees across the United States. That includes 103 employees in Brandon, 90 in Tampa and 76 in Clearwater.

Across the country, more and more unemployed workers are seeing temporary job losses become long-term or permanent. And that has an impact on how they spend money.

Among all workers who say they were laid off because of the coronavirus, at least half remain unemployed, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. About a third have pulled funds from savings or retirement accounts to pay the bills.

Congress has stalled on forging a new pandemic stimulus package, which could include extended unemployment benefits or one-time payments to help people weather the economic storm.

Some people who have received some unemployment are still waiting for what they believe they’re owed.

James Corson, a defense contract worker from Weeki Wachee, was initially denied 12 weeks' worth of state unemployment because he was informed he’d been overpaid more than $10,000 for claims made in 2012 and 2013. He appealed that judgment. In May, the state determined its statute of limitations had passed, and he was eligible for the money.

He still hasn’t gotten it, he said. And the last time he connected with a supervisor, Corson said he was told it would take another two or three months.

“I’ve been claiming every two weeks since then,” said Corson, 71. “I’m kind of lost on it. I just don’t know. It’s from months ago now, and they don’t have an answer.”

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