Florida’s unemployment rate dipped to 2.6% in November, after a brief surge in claims following Hurricane Ian.
The November rate was down from 2.7% in October, as Gov. Ron DeSantis credited the state’s “resilience in this economy.”
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, in a report launched Friday, estimated that 280,000 Floridians certified as unemployed in November, down 5,000 from October and 87,000 from November 2021. The estimated labor power grew by 352,000 over the 12 months to 10.756 million.
“Jobs are being added, unemployment is declining even when we had a near-Category 5 hurricane just a couple months ago,” DeSantis stated Friday throughout an occasion in Fort Myers Beach. “So, it shows you that we have a lot of resilience in this economy, and we’re doing a lot of things right in the state of Florida.”
The nationwide unemployment rate held at 3.7% from October to November, in response to the U.S. Department of Labor, which estimated the U.S. financial system added 263,000 jobs in November.
Florida’s leisure and hospitality sector continued to point out the most important features in new jobs, up 9,600 jobs from October and 97,000 over the 12 months. The new numbers got here even after the Category 4 Hurricane Ian brought about at the least two Southwest Florida resorts — Ritz Carlton, Naples and South Seas Island Resort — to put off greater than 800 individuals.
Ian made landfall Sept. 28 in Lee and Charlotte counties earlier than crossing the state. Speaking to state senators Wednesday, Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research, famous the affect of the storm on the state’s tax revenues in October.
“We noticed, for instance, the tourism and leisure (tax income) class go up. That had a lot to do with evacuations and folks having to journey into motels. So, it was a little bit greater than regular,” Baker stated. “Other things were lower than they should have been. … That’s because people are distracted. They’re dealing with the emergency. Businesses, depending on where you are, were closed right after the hurricane. So, it has kind of a negative effect. That’s detectable, particularly on sales tax (collections).”
Baker cautioned that tourism might be affected by lingering inflation, the prospect of a recession and points similar to a heavier reliance on bank cards.
“Partially because this is mild, what we see is that people may still come, but they make different decisions,” Baker stated. “I might have come for a week. And maybe now I’m only going to come for five days. Or I might have stayed in a higher-priced hotel. And now I’m looking for something that gives me a better bargain.”
Consumer costs have been up 7.1% nationally in November from a 12 months earlier. That was down from 7.7% in October and a 9.1% peak in June.
Florida was one in every of three states that posted decrease unemployment charges in November than October. Florida additionally had the most important variety of job features at 28,100, adopted by Illinois at 17,500 and Massachusetts at 17,300.
Since the beginning of November, the state has averaged 6,041 first-time unemployment claims a week, in response to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Before Hurricane Ian, Florida averaged 6,120 claims a week going again to the beginning of July, Department of Labor numbers present. In the three weeks after Ian, the weekly common was 11,871.
Among metropolitan statistical areas, the bottom unemployment rate in November was in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach areas, at 2.1%. The next-lowest charges have been in the Panhandle, with the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin space at 2.3% and the Panama City space at 2.4 p.c.
The Jacksonville space was at 2.5%. The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Pensacola areas have been at 2.6%, whereas the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area was at 2.7%.
As hurricane restoration continued in Southwest Florida, the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island space’s unemployment rate improved from 2.9% in October to 2.7%, whereas the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton area went from 2.7% to 2.6%.
The highest rate in November was in the Sebring space at 4.2%.
The statewide unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, whereas the regional charges should not.
Copyright 2022 WUSF Public Media – WUSF 89.7. To see extra, go to WUSF Public Media – WUSF 89.7.