‘Florida has started off the year strong:’ Florida jobless rate remains unchanged from December
As reported by News Service Florida, the unemployment rate for January, 3.1 percent, remained unchanged from December’s rate.
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The Florida Department of Commerce on Monday estimated that 340,000 Floridians were out of work in January, 1,000 more than in December. This was also an increase of 37,000 from a year earlier.
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According to New Service Florida, Jimmy Heckman, the Department of Commerce’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, told reporters Monday that demand for labor is keeping the unemployment rate low, with more than one job opening per unemployed person.
“Population growth leads to both a growing labor force and to growing demand for goods and services. That just creates a lot of opportunities throughout the state,” Heckman said. “Every major sector in Florida added jobs over the month in January. Nine out of 10 of those sectors, especially the leisure and hospitality and retail-trade sectors, have added jobs over the past year.”
Florida’s labor force has grown by 2.2 percent compared to 0.8 percent nationally.
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New Service Florida reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office issued a news release Monday that said the new data indicates “economic stability and confidence among Florida’s workforce.”
“Florida has started off the year strong by growing jobs at twice the national average,” DeSantis said in a prepared statement.
Some of the areas of employment that benefited the most were in “health care and social assistance” which increased by 10,300 positions in January. Retail trade employment increased by 5,000 and construction employment was up by 2,300.
Areas experiencing the lowest unemployment rate included Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, at 2.4 percent. Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater areas were all at a 3.3 unemployment rate.
Homosassa Springs saw the highest jobless rate at 5.2 percent.
The Department of Commerce will release a February unemployment report on March 22.
New Service Florida was a contributor to this story.
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