After a 10-fold increase in new claims for unemployment insurance the previous week, new claims in Florida tripled to 227,000 in the week ended March 28, the U.S. Labor Department said April 2.
Nationally, the number of new unemployment claims doubled to 6.6 million, the highest figure ever recorded, the Labor Department said.
As business shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, weekly claims in Florida jumped from 6,463 in the week ending March 14 to 74,021 the next week and skyrocketed again in the week ended March 28.
The Labor Department said Florida is reporting layoffs in the service, retail trade, manufacturing, wholesale trade, construction, and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industries.
The weekly report on unemployment insurance claims is the timeliest data available, but it does not break down data for local metropolitan areas.
The most recent report on the Jacksonville labor market by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity showed Northeast Florida’s unemployment rate was 3% in February, before the impact of the pandemic.
The next metro jobs report, on market conditions in March, is scheduled for release April 17.
It likely will show an increase in the jobless rate but the government surveys on unemployment are conducted in the middle week of the month. The big jump in unemployment claims over the last two weeks in March won’t be fully factored in.