TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Unemployment claims in Florida continued surging Thursday — as did frustrations among the newly jobless who have struggled for weeks to file for financial relief amid the coronavirus outbreak that has crippled the state's economy and sidelined much of its workforce.
The director of the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity took the unusual step Thursday of publicly apologizing for his agency's failures and for the anguish it has wrought on thousands of Floridians unable to get unemployment benefits. “From my heart, I apologize for what you’re going through,” the agency's executive director, Ken Lawson, said during a teleconference hosted by two Democratic lawmakers.