“ You are seeing a real boom in the state of Florida ,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Panama City . He added that tourism , “ even in August , when it ’ s hotter , it ’ s just been off the charts . People are doing very well . And we want to continue to keep that going .”
The sectors that showed the most growth in July included such things as leisure and hospitality jobs .
State officials for months have pointed to businesses struggling to find workers and in June reinstated a “ work search ” rule that requires people claiming unemployment benefits to apply for five jobs a week .
DeSantis also stopped Florida ’ s participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program , which provided $ 300 a week in federal benefits to unemployed people on top of the maximum $ 275 a week in state benefits .
Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith will hear arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by a group of South Florida residents who contend the DeSantis administration violated state law when it stopped providing the federal assistance . The lawsuit seeks to force the administration to resume providing the federal money to unemployed people .
“ As President Biden has said , the boost was always intended to be temporary and it is appropriate for that benefit boost to expire ,” Yellen and Walsh wrote .
In Florida , the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach- Destin metropolitan statistical area had the lowest unemployment rate in July at 4.0 percent , followed by another Panhandle area , Panama City , at 4.3 percent .
The highest rate was found in Sebring area at 6.8 percent . The Villages and Homosassa Springs areas were both at 6.5 percent .
The unemployment rate in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area was 5.6 percent , while the tourism-heavy Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan area had a 5.3 percent jobless rate .
The Pensacola area was at 4.8 percent ; the Tampa-St . Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area was at 4.7 percent ; and the Jacksonville area was at 4.5 percent . The statewide unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted , while the metro numbers are not .
U . S . Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U . S . Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday that the $ 300 weekly benefits , provided through the American Rescue Plan Act stimulus law , won ’ t be extended beyond a Sept . 6 cutoff .
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