unemployment claims florida

The changes apply to people in counties that are under a Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster declaration.

Florida continues to see new unemployment claims roll in at pre-pandemic levels, even as leisure and tourism-related businesses maintain they are struggling to attract workers.

For the first time in more than a year, Florida has posted a weekly count of new unemployment claims below 6,000. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity marks March 15, 2020 as the start of the pandemic in compiling unemployment claims.

Florida’s CONNECT unemployment benefits system failed to connect to much of anything in the early days of the pandemic, leaving millions of recently laid-off Floridians in the cold. The company that built it, Deloitte, has worked to distance itself from the system and is a defendant in a lawsuit against the state. Now, a new state audit reveals the problems go deeper than previously thought and lawmakers are weighing how to fix the system.

More than $73 million is needed over the next two years to revamp Florida’s unemployment system, the head of the state’s unemployment agency said Monday.

Florida and the nation saw upticks last week in first-time unemployment claims as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pummel the economy, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

A week after Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted COVID-19 business restrictions, Department of Economic Opportunity employees who have been able to work remotely during the pandemic have been told they will need to transition back into the office, starting Monday.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is deflecting criticism for the state's unemployment system by blaming those who apply for reemployment assistance. He says it's up to applicants to fill out their form correctly and says most claims brought to him by the media are from ineligible applicants. However, some ineligible people still have to go through Florida's system to get federal aid.

As jobless rates skyrocket, filing for unemployment benefits in Florida can feel like a seemingly impossible task. Many filers have reported website crashes and several hours spent waiting on hold. Governor Ron DeSantis has added more workers, new servers, and made other changes to the system in an attempt to address the issues. Now as some unemployed Floridians are finalizing their applications, they’re turning their focus to another issue – getting approved for those benefits.

As the number of Floridians filing for assistance skyrockets to half a million, the state is scrambling to fortify its beleaguered unemployment system.…