As 2023 inches closer, records and data show the Sunshine State changed a lot in the past year. From overall population to housing and politics, 2022′s impact on Florida was significant.

Commissioners in St. Johns County on Tuesday once again approved expanding Silverleaf in a 4-1 vote, which gives the OK to increasing the development by 5,600 homes — and another 250,000 square feet of commercial space.

Florida’s employment picture continues to brighten, while the state jobs agency envisions conditions slowing to a more “stable” pace over the next two years.

Tens of thousands of out-of-work Floridians will lose an additional $300 a week in unemployment benefits after Friday.

Out-of-work Floridians will soon once again have to show they’re looking for work to keep collecting unemployment checks.

Unemployment claims in Florida increased slightly last week, with an estimated 16,170 new applications submitted, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A Leon County circuit judge on Monday dismissed a potential class-action lawsuit against the state and Deloitte Consulting stemming from problems with Florida’s online unemployment compensation system during the COVID-19 pandemic. After dismissing the case in September, Cooper allowed the plaintiffs to file a revised version. It sought damages and raised several arguments, including that the department and Deloitte were negligent and breached a fiduciary duty. This document is critically important for the court’s consideration of the pending motions to dismiss.”AdBut in a pair of orders dismissing the case, Cooper flatly denied the plaintiffs’ arguments. “After more than nine months and multiple rounds of pleading, plaintiffs are still unable to demonstrate their entitlement to relief,” he wrote.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Marking a pandemic low, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated 15,903 first-time unemployment claims were filed last week in Florida. The estimate for the week that ended Feb. 27 was down 2,727 from a revised count of 18,630 for the week ending Feb. 20. The number for the week ending Feb. 20 had initially been projected at 16,100 claims. The national estimate was an increase of 9,000 from a revised estimate for the week ending Feb. 20. Last week’s estimate for Florida was the lowest since the week ending March 14, 2020, when 6,463 claims came in before the COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread business shutdowns.

MIAMI – The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has deployed fraud-detection software on its mobile app due to fraudulent filings that likely contributed to a recent surge in new unemployment assistance applications, officials said. She could not say how many fraudulent claims may have been processed and paid. This week, Florida's totals remained at their highest level since August for the second straight week, according to labor department reports. AdA week earlier, the federal agency reported that claims in Florida had unexpectedly risen from 39,226 to an initial estimate of 57,824. Nationwide, unprecedented surges in requests for aid due to pandemic shutdowns strained state unemployment offices, and federal relief made this help for the jobless a richer target for fraud.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Deloitte Consulting LLP are fighting a request by plaintiffs' attorneys for an extension of time to file a revised class-action lawsuit related to problems in the state unemployment-compensation system. But Cooper gave plaintiffs' attorneys 30 days to file an amended complaint, which would refuel the legal fight. The state cited a June 22 hearing that went into detail about issues in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in April after hundreds of thousands of coronavirus-caused unemployment claims overwhelmed the state’s online CONNECT system. The Department of Economic Opportunity runs the unemployment system, while Deloitte was a contractor that helped put CONNECT in place in 2013.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida has topped $18 billion paid out in its unemployment system since the COVID-19 pandemic began causing major economic damage in March. From March 15 to Sunday, the system had paid $18,003,063,834 to claimants, with much of the money coming from the federal government, according to information posted Monday on the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity website. In all, the state had received 4,508,856 claims during the period, with 2,078,413 claimants paid

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The state has topped 4 million unemployment claims processed since mid-March, when the COVID-19 pandemic slammed Florida’s economy. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity posted numbers Monday that showed 4,006,847 claims had been processed since March 15. The department, which administers the unemployment system, had received 4,242,954 claims, with 4,088,202 confirmed as “unique” claims. As of Sunday, 2,036,735 claimants had been paid. In all, $17.25 billion in state and federal money had been paid out, with about $3.44 billion in state money.

Florida Democrats are condemning the Department’s actions and have unveiled their plan to fix the state’s unemployment system ahead of the 2021 legislative session. DEO won’t reveal how much money it incorrectly paid out, or how many people are being asked to pay back their unemployment benefits. “We’re trying to set the bar as to what we ought to do as a state with our unemployment system,” said State Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez. The bill also requires DEO to make a determination on a person’s eligibility within three weeks of applying for unemployment and creates an ombudsman position at DEO, that would be responsible for streamlining the unemployment system. Despite a plague of issues at the start of the pandemic, DEO has paid more than $17 billion in unemployment this year.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s unemployment rate dropped a whopping four points in August, according to figures released by the state Friday, bringing it to 7.4 percent. The state reported 46,000 private sector jobs were created in August as 143,000 Floridians returned to work. [View county-by-county unemployment data using the table below]But the state’s economy isn’t out of the woods just yet. The national unemployment rate also dropped by nearly two points in August, now sitting at 8.4 percent. It’s the first time that rate has dipped to single digits since the beginning of the pandemic.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. State Rep. Dane Eagle was appointed as executive director of the state's employment agency on Wednesday, a little more than two weeks after barely losing a Republican primary for Congress in a heavily GOP district. The agency was widely criticized for long delays in paying out unemployment benefits after the economy tanked during the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people waited weeks and sometimes months for benefits from the glitch-ridden unemployment system after suddenly losing work amid the outbreak. But Crist dropped out of the Republican primary, ran as an independent and lost to Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. Lawson remained as director of the Department of Economic Opportunity, but management of the unemployment system was given to Department of Management Services Secretary Jonathan Satter.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The additional $600 federal unemployment checks Floridians had been receiving on top of their state unemployment checks expired Friday. That has left those in the state who are self-employed or reliant on the gig economy out in the cold. Webb applied for unemployment back in April, but because he’s self-employed he doesn’t qualify for state benefits — only the $600 federal benefits. But even the fiscally conservative Florida TaxWatch wants to see the federal unemployment aid extended. Nearly $8 of every $10 dollars the state has paid out in unemployment are from the federal unemployment program.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Two rural communities in the area will receive nearly a million dollars in funding for infrastructure projects through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the state announced on Thursday. The town of White Springs is the recipient of $400,000 to help improve sewer system transmission capabilities in the towns core sewer system, which is more than 40 years old. White Springs sewer system suffered overflows during Hurricane Irma that needed to be addressed. Rural communities are vital to the development and growth of Floridas economy and Im committed to helping them thrive, said Governor Ron DeSantis. Infrastructure improvements made available through the Rural Infrastructure Fund will help rural communities be able to attract businesses and provide more resilient infrastructure for the future of their local economy.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. After four hours of arguments Monday, a Leon County circuit judge will decide whether to move forward with a potential class-action lawsuit stemming from massive problems in Floridas unemployment-compensation system. Attorneys for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Deloitte Consulting, a contractor that helped put the online system in place in 2013, argued that Judge John Cooper should dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed after a crush of coronavirus-caused unemployment claims overwhelmed the system this spring. Cooper last month rejected a preliminary injunction that plaintiffs sought to force the Department of Economic Opportunity to fix the system. Department of Economic Opportunity attorney Daniel Nordby argued Monday, in part, that the lawsuit should be dismissed because of the constitutional separation of powers between judges and the executive branch. The plaintiffs attorneys filed the lawsuit in April after major problems with Floridas CONNECT online unemployment system, which even Gov.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida posted a 14.5% unemployment rate in May as businesses and workers continued to be hammered by the coronavirus pandemic. The 14.5% mark was up from an adjusted rate of 13.8% in April, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The state initially estimated the April rate at 12.9% but released the adjusted number Friday. The May rate reflected 1.412 million jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 9.709 million people. Here are the unemployment rates for Northeast Florida counties:

The U.S. Department of Labor reported 1.5 million new claims nationally during the week that ended June 13, including an estimated 86,298 in Florida. The Florida estimate was down from 112,161 claims during the week that ended June 6, the biggest drop of any state. Ron DeSantis reopening effort, also had a nation-leading decline of 95,546 claims between the weeks ending May 30 and June 6. DeSantis started the first phase of his economic reopening plan in May, with it centering on allowing limited numbers of customers in restaurants and retail stores. Since March 15, more than 2.5 million jobless applications have been filed in Florida, with 2.3 million considered unique, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity.

Unemployment system continues to frustrate FloridiansPublished: June 4, 2020, 6:32 pmApplying to Florida’s unemployment system is relatively easy. Ivette Morad said it’s getting the money that’s difficult.

Perhaps the most apparent change to the system came in the form of a virtual waiting room now available through CONNECT, the state’s oft-criticized unemployment system. "The CONNECT Virtual Waiting Room allows claimants to reserve their place in line while other claimants access the system,” the spokeswoman said. If you’ve ever dealt with the unemployment system, half the battle is logging in. Tracy Pando is well acquainted with Florida’s unemployment website. At the request of News4Jax, Pando tried out the virtual waiting room.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Pointing to the constitutional separation of powers, a Leon County circuit judge Thursday refused to order the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to take steps to fix the states much-maligned unemployment compensation system to process and pay claims. The judge acknowledged that the decision is going to make a lot of people unhappy with me but said he also hadnt seen evidence about how the unemployment system could be fixed. Daniel Nordby, an attorney for the Department of Economic Opportunity, said the agency has sympathy for people who are out of work and have faced challenges in getting unemployment benefits. Cooper pointed to a crush of unemployment claims that the system was not previously designed to handle. The Department of Economic Opportunity received more than 2.21 million unemployment claims from March 15 to Wednesday, according to numbers it posted online.

The investigation into why Florida paid more than 77-million-dollars for a faulty unemployment technology system is undewayPublished: May 28, 2020, 6:08 pmThe inspector General who's looking at documents is asking for patience.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Some Florida residents who have made unemployment claims may have had personal data stolen, officials said Thursday. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has notified 98 people who were part of a data breach associated with unemployment claims, agency spokeswoman Paige Landrum said in an email. Officials didn't say when the breach occurred, how many people were affected or what information was taken. The DEO has received more than 2 million claims seeking unemployment benefits from Floridians since the coronavirus pandemic caused mass business closings around the state, though only 1.6 million claims have been verified. Just under 1 million jobless workers in Florida have been paid more than $2.6 billion in benefits.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported that Floridians filed 223,927 jobless claims last week, compared to 223,082 claims filed in the previous week. Only California and New York had more new claims filed last week. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has received more than 2 million claims seeking unemployment benefits from Floridians, though only 1.6 million claims have been verified. Just under 1 million jobless workers in Florida have been paid more than $2.6 billion in benefits. Floridas workforce before pandemic-related business closures stood at 10 million workers.

Published: May 20, 2020, 7:37 am Updated: May 20, 2020, 8:23 amJACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The phone number for unemployment benefits for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has received 50 million phone calls since March 15, according to Sec. Satter told News4Jax sister station WKMG in Orlando 1 million phone calls were placed to the hotline on Monday alone. He said the best time for someone to call about unemployment benefits is in the late afternoon. Anyone who needs to file for unemployment assistance in Florida can click on this link. “We have hundreds of people in different stages of training, so we can get those wait times down,” Satter said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – There are new calls for the state to quickly pay unemployment claims now and worry about the legitimacy of the claims later. Statistics released on Friday show the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity continues to see more claims than it is paying. “Pay the damn claims — pay them," said State Sen. Perry Thurston. “It can be fixed with a stroke of a pen by the governor via executive order,” said State Sen. Gary Farmer. "We have people who will testify that they were instructed that if someone calls and they can’t pay the rent, can’t pay the mortgage, to tell people to call the emergency number of the United Way,” attorney Gautier Kitchen said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Thousands of frustrated Floridians were duped again by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The department had said it was going to be able to address applicants grievances with unemployment claims over the phone begining Monday at 7:30 a.m.. If you call the number, you’ll hear the following recording,“Thank you for calling the Florida reemployment assistance program. At this time, we do not have access to claim-specific information but can assist you with new claims and general questions about reemployment assistance. Friday, frustrations reached an all-time high when a message appeared on the state’s unemployment website showing the website would be down until Monday morning.

The consequences of state officials failing to fix Florida’s unemployment website are being felt by possibly hundreds of thousands of taxpayers in the wake of an unprecedented wave of unemployment claims. Due to coronavirus-related job losses, more people than ever are filing for unemployment benefits. The State Department of Labor will release new numbers today and is expected to break the record. The Tampa Bay Times reported if the state can’t fix the website hundreds of thousands of Floridians thrown out of work could, at the least, be forced to wait weeks for unemployment relief. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has this warning when you go to its website:Important: The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is currently experiencing higher than average wait times when contacting the Reemployment Assistance Program.