For the first time since March 21, Florida has outpaced California in the number of weekly unemployment claims.
Florida posted 432,465 unemployment claims for the week ending April 25, outpacing California’s 328,042, CNBC reports.
An improvement in the Sunshine State’s method of filing unemployment requests is being credited with the jump in numbers. Seven out of eight Floridians who filed claims between mid-March and early April were still waiting on those claims being processed, the Associated Press reported.
In fact, TampaBay.com called Florida’s unemployment processing system “the offspring of a train wreck and a dumpster fire.”
Florida’s situation seems even worse when it is noted that the state has a labor force about half the size of California’s labor pool.
The Labor Department reported that 3.84 million Americans filed for employment insurance last week, which topped economists’ expectations of 3.5 million and brought the total of those seeking unemployment benefits due to the Coronavirus pandemic to 30.3 million, CNBC noted.
Joe Brusuelas, chief economist for RSM US, told CNBC, “Once one accounts for those who have been denied unemployment or live in states that have not been able to process the rising claims of the unemployed, it’s almost certain that in less than two months the U.S. economy has smashed the Depression-era record.
“The only question here is will initial claims peak above or just below 40 million in the next month.”
Floridians are able to claim benefits for 12-23 weeks, depending on unemployment rates, while most states provide benefits for up to 26 weeks. Florida’s weekly cap of $275 in benefits places the state one of the bottom five states in amount paid.
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