By News Service of Florida
Unemployment claims in Florida dropped for a second consecutive week, but remained close to the weekly average since the start of the year.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,981 first-time jobless claims were filed in Florida last week, down from 6,943 the week ending June 13 and 7,671 the week ending June 6.
With the numbers for the week ending June 13 revised up from 6,732, the state’s weekly average since the start of the year is now 6,007.
The federal estimate follows the state updating its jobs numbers last Friday to indicate that approximately 531,000 Floridians currently qualify as unemployed out of a workforce of 11.45 million in May. The state’s unemployment rate held at 4.8 percent from April to May after eight consecutive monthly jobs reports in which the rate increased.
Nationally, 215,000 claims were filed last week, down from a revised count of 227,000 the week ending June 13.