Gov. Ron DeSantis is playing Santa and giving state employees some extra holiday time off.

State offices will officially be closed on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, per DeSantis. That’s on top of the normal days off for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. The Governor also already gave employees off an extra day on Nov. 26.

“Our state employees have worked hard throughout the year,” DeSantis said in a press release. “I hope they enjoy additional time off with loved ones and friends this holiday season. The First Lady and I are thankful for their continued dedication to the people of Florida.”

Times have been good in the state of Florida this year: There have been no hurricanes, with the season officially ending this month, and surpluses in the budget have been used to pay off the state’s debt early.

DeSantis — and a long line of Florida Governors — have given state employees extended holiday weekends. (Private sector bosses, take note!)

For instance, for this year’s July 4 holiday, DeSantis also shut down state offices on July 3 for the 100,000 people in the State Personnel System.

Former Govs. Rick Scott and Charlie Crist also gave more time off during the holidays.

Florida employees normally get nine holidays off throughout the year: New Year’s, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving and the Friday after, and Christmas.

However, not everyone benefits when the state offices shut down.

According to media reports, OPS, or the “part-time employees hired to fill temporary staff shortages,” won’t get the extra paid time off and are essentially furloughed.

The number of people filing first-time unemployment claims declined in the Sunshine State for the week ending Dec. 13, according to new numbers provided by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

There were 5,214 people who submitted new jobless filings for unemployment benefits in Florida last week, according to the latest DOL report. That’s down by 975 from the 6,189 claims reported for the week ending Dec. 6, or a 15.75% decline.

It’s another sign that holiday hiring at businesses and retailers is robust to prepare for shoppers buying gifts for Christmas Day.

It’s also another indicator that Florida has remained fairly stable in the employment picture since the Summer months. There have been only a few weeks where the number of weekly unemployment filings have increased in the past half-year, though there’s still about a month of weekly claim reports missing due to the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1 and lasted into early November.

The general unemployment figure remains at 3.8% last reported for August. But that figure also hasn’t had any updates from FloridaCommerce due to the government shutdown. FloridaCommerce is the state agency that handles the general unemployment rate reports.

As for the latest report on first-time claims, Florida’s decline reflected the national employment picture. But the number of new claims across the country decreased at a greater percentage than the figure in Florida.

There were a total of 255,012 initial claims in the U.S. for the week ending Dec. 13. That’s a substantial 19% decrease of 59,903 filings from the previous week. That figure outpaced the projected decrease that was forecast by DOL economists, who expected a 14.2% drop. That would have amounted to a decline of 44,785 claims.

While the week-to-week decrease is notable, the year-over-year comparison remains stubborn. DOL officials said there were 252,071 filings for the same comparable week in December 2024. That means the latest unemployment claims report signals about a 1.2% increase in the annual comparison, according to the DOL figures.