Florida's unemployment rate at lowest point since February 2007

Unemployment rate drops, Jacksonville has 21,849 people unemployed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott announced Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent. Scott says it is the lowest since February 2007 and a decrease of 7.3 percentage points since December 2010. Scott adds this drop is faster than the national decline of 5.6 percentage points.

Jacksonville's unemployment rate is below the state average for September. In 2018, Jacksonville had 21,849 people unemployed and 765,683 employed. The unemployment rate  has dropped to 2.8 percent. In 2017, Jacksonville had 28,821 unemployed people, and 750,553 employed. The unemployment rate was 3.7 percent.

“Today, Florida’s unemployment rate has reached its lowest point since February 2007 – this is great news for Florida families. While our state responds and recovers from the devastation of Hurricane Michael, I know that we will rebuild stronger than before. I will never stop working until every family in the Panhandle has recovered from this storm, and I will keep fighting to make sure that every Floridian has the opportunity to get a great job," Scott said. 

County-by-county unemployment rates

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A similar population, West Palm Beach, in 2018 had 22,701 unemployed, while 705,500 were employed. The unemployment rate is 3.1 percent. Last year, West Palm Beach  had 29,480 people unemployed, and 697,313 people employed in September. The unemployment rate was 4.1.

Hendry County has the highest unemployment rate at 6.6 percent for September 2018. The United States unemployment is 3.6 percent, while Florida's rate is lower, at 3.0 percent. 

According to the governor's office, Florida businesses have created 1,637,100 jobs since December 2010 and 17,700 private sector jobs in September. 

Florida’s annual job growth rate has outpaced the nation for 77 of the past 78 months. The only month that Florida did not exceed the nation was due to Hurricane Irma. In the past year, 108,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.1 percent.

The report shows positive economic indicators for private sector industries gaining the most jobs, such as leisure and hospitality, construction, professional and business services, education and health services and trade, transportation and utilities.

Unemployment rates are down for September 2018, compared to last year, for Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Saint Johns and Volusia counties.

Read more: Florida unemployment stats


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