Florida unemployment claims top 7,000

laborers working in the heat — Construction workers in the heat. By Artistic Operations via iStock for WMNF News.

Florida continues to see a slightly higher number of unemployment claims.

The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday released a report that showed an estimated 7,140 first-time unemployment applications filed in Florida during the week that ended June 22, the fourth consecutive week with more than 7,000 claims.

Before that four-week period, Florida had posted just two other weeks since mid-January 2023 with more than 7,000 claims, according to Department of Labor numbers.

Last week’s total, however, was down from 7,766 claims during the week that ended June 15.

The Florida Department of Commerce has received letters from 89 companies this year about plans to lay off 5,585 workers.

Over the first six months of 2023, the department received 120 company notifications about 4,409 planned layoffs.

On Friday, the Department of Commerce said the state’s May unemployment rate was 3.3 percent, the same as in April.

The numbers reflected 361,000 people qualified as unemployed in both months.