TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida had the most new unemployment claims of any U.S. state last week as more than 432,000 Floridians filed for jobless benefits in the latest sign of damage to its economy caused by coronavirus -induced lockdowns that closed theme parks, shuttered restaurants and halted travel.
The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday that 432,465 initial claims for jobless benefits were filed in Florida last week, down slightly from the previous week's more than half-million claims.
Nationwide, more than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the U.S. economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s.