Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 10.4% in June from the previous month’s 13.7%.
The drop reflects the reopening of the state’s theme parks, restaurants, bars and other tourism-related businesses after weeks of coronavirus-related lockdowns.
But economists said Friday that the state's economic future remains clouded by recent spikes in Florida’s COVID-19 caseload.
That is evidenced by this week’s showing that jobless claims almost doubled last week from the previous week.
Additionally, a host of large hotels have said that they are turning temporary furloughs from March into permanent layoffs at the end of July. Year-over-year, the hospitality industry has lost more than 1 in 5 jobs in Florida.
