- May 7, 2026
Florida saw its number of jobless claims fall for a third consecutive week, but it remains to be seen if that will continue as the Dania Beach-based Spirit Airlines ceased operations as the week ended.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday estimated 5,400 first-time unemployment claims were filed in Florida last week, down from a revised count of 5,587 the week ending April 25 and 5,659 the week ending April 18.
The figures show little change in the weekly count since the start of the year, which now averages 5,745 initial claims a week during that time.
But last week ended with Spirit notifying the state Department of Commerce that 4,853 employees in Broward, Miami-Dade and Orange counties were being let go, with the layoffs occurring through May 13.
Employees of the air carrier were notified a day after Commerce increased the state’s unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, reflecting an estimated 523,000 Floridians qualified as out of work from a labor force of 11.15 million.
It was the seventh consecutive monthly report from Commerce in which the jobless rate went up. The figures also showed a jump in the number of people qualified as unemployed by 120,000 over the past year.
