Florida overtook California on Thursday as the U.S. state with the most weekly unemployment claims as Tallahassee began to process in earnest its sizable backlog of filings. Florida, which reported 432,465 jobless claims for the week ended April 25, topped California's 328,042, marking the first time since the week ended March 21 that the Golden State didn't lead the nation in the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits.

Though both states reported declines in the number of workers seeking insurance from the prior week, that Florida is now leading the chart is notable since its labor force is about half that of California's. Texas and Georgia also saw a significant number of claims last week with each state reporting at least 250,000. The relative surge in Florida claims is likely thanks to an improvement in the state's ability to process filings. The Associated Press reported last week that nearly 7 of every 8 Floridians who managed to file claims during the three weeks from mid-March until early April were waiting to have them processed. California and Texas had about two-thirds of claims backlogged, while New York had about 30% of claims waiting, AP reported.

A person in their car arrives to receive an unemployment application being given out by City of Hialeah employees in front of the John F. Kennedy Library on April 8, 2020 in Hialeah, Florida. Joe Raedle | Getty Images

"A look at unemployment claims around the country by state strongly implies that there will be a surge in unemployment claims in two states: Texas and Florida," Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, said in a note. "The collapse of the oil and energy complex in Texas will certainly cause a surge in claims, as well as in Florida, where widespread issues in processing so many claims will almost surely cause a jump in first-time claims over the next month," he added.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that another 3.84 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment last week as Covid-19 business closures put more Americans out of work. Though the pace of layoffs appears to be slowing — the latest claims count is the lowest since March 21 — the new data brings the cumulative six-week total to 30.3 million initial jobless claims as part of the worst employment crisis in U.S. history.