First-time unemployment claims in Florida dropped sharply during the holiday-shortened Thanksgiving week.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 3,856 initial claims were filed in Florida last week, down from 6,534 during the week that ended Nov. 19.

The state had averaged 6,965 claims during the four weeks before the holiday-shortened period.

Florida had a 2.7 percent unemployment rate in October, with an estimated 285,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed from a workforce of 10.75 million.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is slated to release a November report on Dec. 16.

Nationally, 225,000 new unemployment claims were filed last week, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week.