With the state slated to release a March unemployment report Friday, the pace of jobless claims in Florida remains relatively unchanged since a brief spike in October after Hurricane Ian.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,289 first-time jobless applications were filed last week in Florida, down from a revised count of 6,278 during the week that ended April 8.

During the past four weeks, the state has averaged 5,448 claims.

Since the start of November, the weekly average is 5,733. The Department of Labor estimated that 245,000 claims

were filed nationally last week, up 5,000 from the prior week.

Florida had a 2.6 percent unemployment rate in February, reflecting 284,000 people qualified as unemployed, down 2,000 from a month earlier. At the same time, the labor force grew by 24,000 to 10.879 million.