Initial unemployment insurance claims in the U.S. were 404,000, for the week ending January 15, 2011, a decrease of 37,000 from the previous week of 441,000 the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.
The 404,000 figure was better than expected. Analysts had forecast jobless claims to be about 425,000.
Meanwhile, the most recent data for Florida show, initial jobless claims jumped to 21,975 for the week ended January 8, 2011, an increase of 7,836 or 55 percent over the previous week’s figure of 14,139.
The state explained the spike this way: “The start of a new quarter of wage credits for benefit purposes, as well as layoffs in the construction, trade, service, and manufacturing industries, and agriculture.”
As initial jobless claims rose in Florida, “continued claims” declined to 195,953 for the week ending January 8, 2011, down from 205,651 from the previous week. The insured unemployment rate also declined from 2.9 percent to 2.8 percent over a similar period.
Prior to the new year, Florida’s initial unemployment claims had dipped to 16,006 for the week ending December 25, 2010.
Average weekly benefits for eligible unemployed Floridians amount to a mere $233 with the state ranked 46 out of 51.  Moreover, only 26 percent of Florida’s unemployed receive benefits, again ranking near the bottom of all states–46 out of 51, according to propublica.org.
This situation is likely to worsen with a broke trust fund which employers pay into, and more than $2 billion borrowed from the federal government which Florida will soon have to begin to repay.
“Jobs Governor” Rick Scott should move with urgency to get Floridians back to work and keep his campaign pledge.
The state currently has an unemployment rate of 12 percent.
