FLORIDA — A year after skyrocketing amid the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Florida's unemployment rate has fallen to roughly one percentage point higher than it was in the two years before the crisis began. That's of little consolation to some business leaders, however, who argue that a continuing federal unemployment compensation stipend is creating a labor shortage that is holding back economic growth.

The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program, authorized by Congress as part of the American Rescue Plan, provides for a $300 weekly benefit in addition to Florida's state-level benefit of $275. The program is intended to help laid-off workers make ends meet as the pandemic runs its course, but the business lobby argues a total weekly benefit of $575 is dissuading too many Floridians from taking jobs that are largely back in pre-pandemic abundance.

In an interview Friday, Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson said he's hopeful that Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent executive order reinstating an unemployment compensation work search requirement would trigger a wave of ​hirings over the next month.

"We're going to see people go back to work," he said. "They're going to get the type of job that they're qualified for. But to the point, if two or three months from now it's not working, if the federal government continues to incentivize non-work, then I think that you'll see Florida leaders take matters into our own hands."

In fact, 21 other states have ended their distributions of the FPUC benefit — well before the congressionally-approved expiration date of Labor Day, Sept. 6.

DeSantis has the option of issuing an executive order ending Florida's FPUC distributions, as well. Two sources close to the governor's office said late Friday such a decision is imminent.

But there are also indications the labor market is self-correcting. State economists announced Friday that Florida's unemployment rate rose slightly in April, to 4.8%, as more Floridians began actively looking for jobs.

"I wouldn't say that the recovery is slowing just based on that one number," said Adrienne Johnston of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. "You have to kind of combine it with the fact that more people are getting employed and are continuing to grow, so it's multi-faceted that way."

The state's critical hospitality industry has been particularly vexed by the growing labor shortage. Scores of tipped workers laid off in the early days of the pandemic have been hesitant to return to their old profession, and some industry experts say that hesitation is being driven in large part by the relatively generous unemployment benefits they've been receiving.

"The argument that we should incentivize people for not working and allow them to make more staying home than they would be to work, that's not the American way," Wilson said.