New unemployment claims in Florida dropped modestly last week, with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) figures showing there were 5,278 initial filings for the week ending March 14.

That’s down by 363 claims from the previous week, when there were 5,641. That number was an increase from the last week in February.

For the first time in about a month, Florida was in line with the national trend. DOL reports there were 190,370 new filings across the country last week. That’s an 8.1% drop, down by 16,882 from the week before.

That’s nearly double the decrease in claims DOL analysts had projected. The Department’s economists had expected a 4.2% decline, which would have amounted to 8,751 fewer claims.

The latest national numbers also show a notable drop in the year-over-year comparison. There were 207,398 filings for the comparable week in 2025. The latest number represents an 8.9% decrease in the annual comparison.

The broader unemployment figure for Florida is 4.3%, just below the national rate of 4.4%. The state figure accounts for 486,000 Floridians who are out of work. That’s out of a labor force of 11.22 million in the state.

The latest Florida unemployment rate represents a notable increase from a year ago, according to FloridaCommerce. The jobless rate sat at 3.6% in the Sunshine State in March 2025.

FloridaCommerce has not yet returned to reporting on the unemployment rate monthly since last Fall’s shutdown. But FloridaCommerce officials are expected to issue the latest unemployment rate for Florida within days.

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