By News Service of Florida
First-time unemployment claims last week in Florida were at the lowest level in nearly seven months.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,590 claims were filed in Florida during the week that ended Saturday, down from a revised count of 6,075 claims during the week that ended Sept. 13.
Last week’s total was the lowest number since 5,566 claims were submitted during the week that ended March 1.
The drop came as the Florida Department of Commerce last week announced that the state’s August unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, up from 3.7 percent in July.
Nationally, an estimated 218,000 first-time jobless applications were filed last week, down from 232,000 filed during the week that ended Sept. 13.
The national unemployment rate in August was 4.3 percent.
The national first-time claims numbers are seasonally adjusted, while the state claims numbers are not adjusted.