Florida jobless rate down to 2.5 percent

TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s already-low unemployment rate dipped to 2.5 percent in September, although the numbers don’t take into consideration financial results from Hurricane Ian.

A state economist mentioned Friday that October numbers probably will present an impression from the Category 4 storm, which made landfall Sept. 28 in Southwest Florida, however wouldn’t speculate on potential modifications.

The Department of Economic Opportunity launched a report exhibiting the September rate down from 2.7 percent in August and July. The September rate represented an estimated 266,000 individuals out of labor from a labor drive of 10.7 million.

“What else is new? We’ve been outpacing the nation on almost everything for the last few years,” Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned Friday throughout a marketing campaign occasion at ATMAX Equipment in Tampa. “Of course, part of the reason that was the case is because every governor had to make decisions about how they were going to look out for people over the last few years.”

The 2.5 percent rate, the bottom for the state since October 2006, is predicated on knowledge collected earlier than the hurricane made landfall and crossed Florida.

Adrienne Johnston, the Department of Economic Opportunity’s chief economist, mentioned in a convention name with reporters that analysts are trying intently on the impression of the storm.

“Our team has been looking at past storms, and we’ve seen tremendous variation across different storms and how they’ve hit our state,” Johnston mentioned. “So, we don’t want to speculate just yet.”

Florida noticed a spike of preliminary jobless claims after Hurricane Ian, with the quantity rising from 4,269 throughout the week the storm made landfall to 14,934 throughout the week that ended Oct. 8, in accordance to U.S. Department of Labor estimates. The variety of new claims dipped to 11,078 final week.

Florida was amongst 11 states that reported dips in unemployment charges in September. The others have been Alaska, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania.

Rates in 9 different states went up. They have been Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimated on Oct. 7 the nation added 263,000 jobs in September, with the nationwide unemployment rate dropping from 3.7 percent to 3.5 percent. That matches the nationwide rate in February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to injury the worldwide financial system.

While job development has slowed from the beginning of the 12 months, the variety of jobs added nationally was barely larger than anticipated, indicating the financial system was plodding by elevated inflation and better rates of interest.

A current report by the state Department of Economic Opportunity projected Florida employment exceeding 10.8 million employees in 2030.

“This amounts to a statewide compound annual growth rate of 1.04 percent across the next eight years,” Johnston mentioned. “The fastest growing occupations are those related to health care, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities.”

Over the previous 12 months, the state’s development rate was 4.5 percent.

In that point, Florida has seen essentially the most development within the leisure and hospitality sector, which was onerous hit early within the pandemic.

Among metropolitan statistical areas, the bottom unemployment rate in September was within the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin area, at 2.2 percent, adopted by the Panama City and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach areas, each at 2.3 percent.

The Jacksonville, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Pensacola areas have been every at 2.5 percent. The Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford market was at 2.7 percent.

The highest charges have been within the Sebring space at 4.1 percent, Homosassa Springs at 4 percent and The Villages at 3.9 percent.

The statewide unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, whereas the regional charges are usually not.