[dsparkman]

Florida purposely built a broken system under Governor Rick Scott. It was engineered to make sure that as few eligible people could access it as possible. It is socially and technically engineered to make it so that people give up trying to claim the unemployment benefits they are entitled to. Florida used the system to keep their unemployment numbers artificially low coming out 2008 recession.

[ryankupyn]

I'd note that while a broken unemployment system would affect statistics on the number of claims made, the official unemployment rate is calculated differently, using the Current Population Survey, and doesn't incorporate data on claims:

https://www.bls.gov/cps/cps_htgm.htm

[thephyber]

The state of Florida cares less about the unemployment rate and more about whether they have to pay out of their unemployment fund. The federal government is different because they just increase the deficit whenever the situation is dire.