Sunshine Sentinel

The Department of Labor reported that Florida had its lowest four weeks of unemployment claims since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Click Orlando.

Last week, the Department of Labor reported an estimate of 5,343 first-time unemployment claims were filed in Florida during the week before Thanksgiving, ending Nov. 20. The average over the past four weeks is 6,045 claims. In the four-week period ending March 15, 2020, there was an average of 5,376 new claimants.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary credited the governor with kicking the Florida economy into overdrive by opting out of the federal unemployment bonuses for state residents, Sunshine Sentinel reported Oct. 27. 

“The Florida economy has kicked into overdrive," Christina Pushaw, press secretary for DeSantis, told Sunshine Sentinel. "This is in no small part due to Gov. DeSantis ending the $300 weekly unemployment bonus months ahead of schedule, as the bonus accounted for more than half of Florida’s unemployment spending in late May. As the bonus ended, Floridians quickly began searching for work, creating an economic climate where small businesses could fill open positions and create more jobs.”

Florida’s seasonal adjusted unemployment rate was 4.6% for October, which was down 0.2 percentage points from September and 1.2% from a year ago, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

DeSantis also recently praised Florida’s third-quarter tourism figures, which were higher than 2019, according to Click Orlando.

“We have a great business environment for (manufacturing),” DeSantis said. “A lot of the places where manufacturing grew up many decades ago, have been more difficult to do business in.”