Florida sees huge jump in new unemployment claims

After about a month of falling first-time unemployment claims, Florida saw a wild spike in filings for the week ending July 11.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) figures show there were 7,133 first-time jobless claims in the Sunshine State in the second week of July. That figure is up by 2,598 over the 4,535 claims for the week ending July 4. The previous report was the lowest figure for Florida in months.

The latest DOL report shows the national figures also increased. There were 244,826 new filings across America for the week ending July 11. That’s a jump of 18,834 claims, or an 8.3% increase.

While the numbers did increase nationally, the jump isn’t as steep as DOL analysts had expected. Economists with the agency had projected a jump of 28,574 claims last week, or a 12.6% hike.

In the year-over-year comparison, there was a drop in new claims. There were 261,111 for the comparable week in 2025.

While first-time claims appear to be rising in July, the general unemployment rate for June dropped in Florida. FloridaCommerce, the state’s business development bureau, released the unemployment rate for June on Friday, showing it fell to 4.7%, down from 4.8% in May.

The FloridaCommerce report said there were 525,000 Floridians out of work out of a labor force of about 11.14 million. Five out of the 10 major industries in Florida gained workers in June.

Education and health services led the way in June, with 39,000 jobs added, a 2.5% increase. Other sectors with the most jobs added include the professional and business services industries and the leisure and hospitality sectors.

The general unemployment rate for June was a big jump from a year ago, however. The jobless rate for June 2025 was 3.8%, nearly a point lower.

Still, it’s the first unemployment rate decrease in well over a year and marks a change from steady increases this year

While the latest unemployment rate is positive for Florida, the 4.7% state figure is still higher than the national unemployment rate. The U.S. rate dropped from 4.3% in May to 4.2% in June.