ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — There's some good news when it comes to the job market.
Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, and this is the first time since the pandemic began that there were fewer than a million people in need of assistance.
According to the Department of Labor, 963,000 people filed jobless claims the week ending Aug. 8. That's down from 1,191,000 the week ending August 1.
Over the past few weeks, the number of first-time filers in Florida has been going down after a peak in July when bars were shut down. Last week there were 55,106 Floridians needing assistance. That was down 23,180 from the week ending August 1 of 78,286 claims.
Keep in mind, those who are out of work right now are living on a maximum of $275 per week from the state after the $600 federal unemployment benefits expired a couple of weeks ago as part of the CARES Act.
President Trump signed a memo over the weekend to give Americans $400, but it could take weeks before those claims are paid out. The state is supposed to provide $100 dollars of that federal assistance. The President suggested using money left over from the CARES Act.
On Tuesday, Governor Ron DeSantis told reporters since the state has already allocated all of its CARES money, he's looking at taking a loan from the Department of Labor to pay the part the state is responsible for matching. If a state doesn't contribute 25 percent, that means those who are out of work will receive $300 instead. 10 Tampa Bay reached out to the Department of Economic Opportunity for a timeline on when they plan to send any checks with the new federal assistance and a spokesperson says they’re reviewing the memo to determine which options are available.
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