By News Service of Florida
The number of first-time unemployment claims in Florida remained steady last week, with an estimated 5,968 applications filed.
The estimate, released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor, was a slight decrease from the revised count of 6,143 for the week that ended Aug. 16.
During the past four weeks, the state has averaged 6,203 first-time claims.
Since the start of April, the weekly average is 6,595.
Florida had a 3.7 percent unemployment rate the past four months.
Nationally, an estimated 229,000 claims were filed last week, down from a revised count of 234,000 the prior week.
The national numbers are seasonally adjusted, while the state numbers are not adjusted.
The national unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in July.