Florida’s economy shows signs of improvement, economist says

FILE (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File) (Elise Amendola, Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s economy is showing some improvement.

The unemployment rate for January was revised downward by a full percentage point. Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment is now 4.8 percent for January 2021, up 1.5 percent from the same time last year.

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For perspective, the U.S. unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in January.

Adrienne Johnston, chief economist for the state Department of Economic Opportunity, said the 1-point drop in the revised rate is the biggest revision in over a year.

“Jobs are continuing to be added back into our economy, and people are going back into work, so we are seeing people going back into employment status,” she said. “We’re actually seeing a reduction in the unemployed, so job growth is connecting people back into the labor market and people are getting jobs.”

There were 482,000 jobless Floridians in January out of a labor force of more than 10 million. February’s numbers are set to be released later this month.


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