Pace Of New Florida Jobless Claims Remains Steady

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — As the edifice manufacture pushes for much national assistance to screen the costs of workers, Florida continues to spot small alteration successful the fig of caller unemployment claims being filed.

The U.S. Department of Labor connected Thursday estimated 6,509 first-time unemployment claims were filed successful Florida during the week that ended Oct. 2, down from a revised number of 7,713 for the week ending Sept. 25.

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The bureau initially had estimated Florida’s number for the week ending Sept. 25 astatine 6,502 claims.

Since mid-May, the authorities has averaged 7,935 caller claims a week. Over the past 4 weeks, the play mean stands astatine 7,825. Those numbers are dramatically little than the fig of claims that poured into the authorities Department of Economic Opportunity aft the COVID-19 pandemic began battering the system successful March 2020 and April 2020.

Nationally, 326,000 archetypal unemployment claims were filed past week, down 38,000 from the anterior week, according to the Department of Labor. Over the past 4 weeks, the nationalist play mean stands astatine 344,000.

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Secretary Dane Eagle told Enterprise Florida committee members past week that efforts to get Floridians backmost into the workforce should soon commencement to wage off.

In June, the authorities withdrew aboriginal from 2 national assistance programs — the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation programs — and reimplemented a “work search” request for radical seeking unemployment benefits.

Other national unemployment programs that were portion of pandemic betterment efforts ended Sept. 6.

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On Tuesday, Lisa Lombardo, main radical and civilization serviceman for Ocala-based HDG Hotels, joined U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., successful calling for much national assistance for the edifice industry. Along with facing problems successful hiring workers, the manufacture has suffered from a driblet successful concern travelers during the pandemic. Hoteliers had hoped concern travelers would assistance instrumentality the spot of leisure travelers aft the caller schoolhouse twelvemonth began.

“The labour crunch has made affording endowment a goal,” Lombardo said successful a league call. “It mightiness look arsenic though hotels are packed successful immoderate markets. And it’s hard to find rooms successful immoderate markets. But we cognize of friends successful the manufacture who are closing down full floors of their hotels due to the fact that determination aren’t squad members to cleanable the full hotel, to hole that edifice for what we anticipation volition beryllium the instrumentality of business.”

The American Hotel & Lodging Association projected Florida hotels volition suffer $5.34 cardinal successful concern question gross this year, with it down 60.7 percent from the pre-pandemic twelvemonth of 2019.

Crist, who is moving for politician successful 2022, was promoting his “Save Hotel Jobs Act” authorities that would supply grants to edifice owners and operators to screen worker payroll and benefits.

Business owners successful a wide scope of industries person complained astir shortages of workers — shortages that besides are plaguing Florida’s situation system. The authorities Department of Corrections continued recruitment efforts this week by saying it was providing $1,000 bonuses for recently certified correctional officers astatine galore prisons crossed the state.

Florida had a 5.0 percent unemployment complaint successful August, representing 529,000 radical qualifying arsenic being unemployed from a workforce of 10.54 million.

September unemployment figures volition beryllium released Oct. 22.

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(©2021 CBS Local Media. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten, oregon redistributed. The News Service of Florida’s Jim Turner contributed to this report.)