Florida unemployment rate spikes in March

State’s jobless numbers up 65% in latest report

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Knowing that 800,000 unemployment applications filed in recent weeks have overwhelmed Florida’s computers, it’s no surprise that the state’s jobless rate went up sharply in March.

The initial measurement of job losses -- mostly a result of the COVID-19 pandemic -- showed the state’s unemployment rate jumped from 2.8% in February to 4.3% in March, according to numbers released Friday morning. That’s a 65% increase in one month.

Officials were quick to note that the March rate -- reflecting an estimated 444,000 Floridians out of work from a workforce of 10.3 million -- shows where the state was in mid-March. That was just when amusement parks and Major League Baseball spring training games were being shut down, but still before many businesses closed or dramatically scaled back.

More than 22,000 of those who lost jobs in the last month were in Duval County.

“The March labor statistics reflect some of the early effects of the coronavirus and efforts to contain it,” a news release from the Department of Economic Opportunity said.

Unemployment rate change in one month

Senate President Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, warned senators Thursday that the “rate for March does not reflect the current condition of unemployment that exists today.” Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, issued an order at the beginning of April directing people to stay home except for “essential” reasons.

“To provide further context, the statewide order regarding essential services and activities was issued on April 1,” Galvano wrote in a memo. “This means that a large portion of the Florida economy was still operating in relatively normal circumstances in mid-March. In this regard, the March unemployment rate embodies only a limited number of the people who will ultimately be affected by the impact of coronavirus.”

Nationally, the March unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. But the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday reported more than 22 million Americans had filed for aid since a national emergency was declared by President Donald Trump on March 13.

The number of new claims is approaching the total of new jobs -- 22.8 million -- created nationally in the decade following the 2008-2009 recession.

In the March unemployment numbers, Florida’s leisure and hospitality industries and service-providing jobs took the biggest hits from the virus, accounting for an estimated 76,600 job cuts from February to March.

On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis stripped the Department of Economic Opportunity of its oversight role of the faltering online unemployment system, putting Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter in charge Wednesday.

“His mission is very simple,” DeSantis said. “Get assistance out as quickly as you can.”

“The task is pretty daunting,” Satter admitted. “I lie awake, for the couple hours that I do lie in bed at night. It’s a task. There are a lot of steps to this. It is a very complicated process, but we are confident we are making progress hour by hour. Hopefully, we are going to get Floridians paid very, very soon.”

As of Thursday, weekly unemployment checks of up to $275 had been issued to just 33,623 of the more than 800,000 Floridians who had applied since the start of March.

Furloughed worker Danny Grabill said he filed his unemployment claim March 20.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare. Our (federal) stimulus checks did come in, but they can only be stretched so far,” Grabill said.

The governor said that under normal circumstances it takes about three weeks for someone to receive an unemployment check after filing their initial claim. “And it’s been my judgment that that’s too long.”


About the Authors:

Jim Piggott is the reporter to count on when it comes to city government and how it will affect the community.

Jim is a Capitol reporter for the News Service of Florida, providing coverage on issues ranging from transportation and the environment to Legislative and Cabinet politics.