By News Service of Florida
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,976 first-time unemployment claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended May 17, down from 6,724 the previous week.
While the state’s unemployment rate has inched up from 3.5 percent in January to 3.7 percent in April, the weekly average of new claims has hovered around 6,000 since the start of the year.
An estimated 410,000 people were out of work in April from a labor force of 11.203 million, according to a report issued last week by the Florida Department of Commerce.
Nationally, an estimated 227,000 claims were filed during the week that ended May 17, down 2,000 from the previous week.
The national unemployment rate in April was 4.2 percent.