Unemployment

While the state has ramped up efforts to push people back into the labor force, it has also seen the number of people leaving jobs jump from 193,000 in Sept. 2020 to 264,000 in Sept. 2021.

The state also saw some improvements in its leisure and hospitality industry.

Sen. Anna Eskamani says this includes delayed processing and people getting locked out of their accounts.

Florida’s labor force has grown by more than half a million people since October.

An estimated 530,000 Floridians were out of work in July from a workforce of 10.48 million.

Florida’s June unemployment rate is up slightly from the month before. Statistics released by the state Friday show June's unemployment rate was rate 5%, up 0.1 percentage point from May.

The state’s unemployment rate now stands at 4.9% as some industries continue to report that people are slow to return to work.

An estimated 503,000 people qualified as unemployed in May, up from 488,000 a month earlier.

The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association launched the free servicee to help laid off and furloughed people find work. About 600 businesses have already posted positions.

State and business officials have argued that the $300 a week in federal aid is keeping people from returning to jobs.

The return of workers to the leisure and hospitality sectors continues to be at a slower pace than in some other industries.

Millions who lost jobs at the beginning of the pandemic are still out of the labor force, making up levels of the unemployed not seen since the Great Recession.