Florida Employment Rates; Person visiting job portal online — Courtesy: Shutterstock — Image by: Blueee77
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Sunshine State’s unemployment rate fell to 2.5 percent last month, the lowest rate since October 2006 and the second lowest in the state’s recorded history, officials announced on Friday.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis released a statement on Friday saying that the state also had the second fastest Gross Domestic Product growth in the country, increasing at an annual rate of 1.6 percent throughout the second quarter of 2022 while the national GDP has fallen for two consecutive quarters.
“Florida’s economy continues to outpace the national average,” DeSantis said. “Floridians are finding jobs, and our state’s businesses are thriving. “With inflation still surging due to federal policies and with Southwest Florida recovering from Hurricane Ian, Florida has maintained sound fiscal and economic policies that will help us mitigate these challenges.”
The Sunshine State’s workforce grew by 316,000, or 3 percent, between September 2021 and September 2022, officials said. During that same time period, total private sector employment increased by a whomping 461,500 jobs or 5.8 percent. Officials emphasized that the number is faster than the national private sector job growth rate of 4.4 percent over the year.
As of September, employers throughout Florida had added jobs for 29 months in a row since May 2020.
Florida Economic Indicators for September 2022 according to flgov.com include:
- The unemployment rate is 2.5 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month’s rate and 1.0 percentage points below the national rate of 3.5 percent.
- Florida’s statewide unemployment rate has been lower than the national rate for 22 consecutive months since December 2020.
- Florida’s statewide unemployment rate has declined or held steady for 26 consecutive months.
- Between September 2021 and September 2022, Florida’s labor force grew by 316,000, or 3.0 percent. This was faster than the national labor force growth rate of 2.0 percent over the year.
- Between September 2021 and September 2022, total private sector employment grew by 461,500 jobs (+5.8 percent), faster than the national private sector job growth rate of 4.4 percent over the year.
- As of September 2022, Florida employers have added jobs for 29 consecutive months since May 2020. Florida’s private sector over-the-year job growth rate has exceeded the nation’s for 18 consecutive months since April 2021.
- Private sector industries gaining the most jobs over the month were:
- Education and Health Services with 19,100 new jobs.
- Construction with 6,900 new jobs.
- Leisure and Hospitality with 6,900 new jobs.
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