Florida jobless claims triple to 227,000

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, new data from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday showed that jobless claims in the state of Florida more than tripled, with 227,000 Floridians filing for unemployment last week.

With businesses continuing to close and lay off workers, the new numbers from the DOL dwarf the previous week ending March 21 — a record high that saw 74,313 Floridians file unemployment claims. The numbers in the Sunshine come as America’s job market experiences its most devastating week, as a torrent of 6.6 million jobless claims obliterates the 3.3 million initial claims announced last Thursday, which at the time was the largest number ever recorded, surpassing the fallout from the Great Recession that rose to 665,000 in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 that occurred in October 1982.

The stunning report from the DOL comes as job cuts soar across the United States with businesses closing as a result of economic fallout from the growing pandemic. With the recession setting in, the world approaches 1 million total coronavirus cases — with the U.S. tallying 215,395 total cases and Florida soon to see 8,000 cases.

This week’s report was far greater than the forecast of 3.5 million that economists expected, reaching more than 3,000% the pre-pandemic levels. The U.S. has now received over 10 million jobless claims in the last two weeks.

Other states, however, fared much worse than Florida. States who issued earlier mandatory stay-at-home orders were hit the hardest, with places like California (878,727), Pennsylvania (405,880), and New York (366,403) seeing their totals rise.

Today’s numbers come one day after Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order requiring all Floridians to “limit movement and personal interactions outside the home.” The governor’s order is set to go into effect Thursday at midnight and limits Floridians to just essential activities. The order is set to last for 30 days