As off the latest unemployment figures, Florida has gained back over half of the jobs lost due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown of the economy between February and April of this year.
Florida lost 1,178,100 jobs from February to April 2020 and has since gained back over 699,700 jobs, according to today’s October 2020 employment and unemployment report by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5 percent in October 2020, down 0.7 percentage point from the revised September 2020 rate, and up 3.6 percentage points from a year ago. There were 659,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 10,109,000. The U.S. unemployment rate was 6.9 percent in October.
Florida’s seasonally adjusted total nonagricultural employment was 8,593,200 in October 2020, an increase of 51,600 jobs (+0.6 percent) over the month. The state lost 407,600 jobs over the year, a decrease of 4.5 percent. Nationally, the number of jobs fell 6.1 percent over the year.
According to the report, the number of jobs in Florida was 8,593,200 in October 2020, down 407,600 jobs compared to a year ago. All ten major industries experienced negative over-the-year job growth in October. The industry losing the most jobs over the year was leisure and hospitality (-198,500 jobs, -15.8 percent).
Other industries losing jobs over the year included professional and business services (-49,100 jobs, -3.5 percent); total government (-39,000, -3.5 percent); trade, transportation, and utilities (-37,700 jobs, -2.1 percent); education and health services (-25,600 jobs, -1.9 percent); other services (-23,200 jobs, -6.6 percent); information (-10,900 jobs, -7.9 percent); construction (-10,500 jobs, -1.8 percent); financial activities (-7,100 jobs, -1.2 percent); and manufacturing (-5,900 jobs, – 1.5 percent).
In October 2020, Wakulla County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate (3.5 percent), followed by St. Johns County (3.7 percent), Santa Rosa County and Okaloosa County (3.8 percent each), and Lafayette County and DeSoto County (4.0 percent each), according to the report.
The highest unemployment rate was in Osceola County (10.4 percent) in Florida in October 2020, followed by Miami-Dade County (8.8 percent), Orange County (8.5 percent), and Polk County and Broward County (7.3 percent each).
Twenty out of 24 metro areas in Florida had over-the-year job losses in October. The areas with the largest losses were Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (-124,900 jobs, -9.3 percent), Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall (-74,900 jobs, -6.1 percent), and Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach (-63,100 jobs, -7.3 percent).
Four metro areas in Florida experienced an over-the-year job gain in October 2020: Ocala (1,200 jobs, +1.1 percent), Punta Gorda (+700 jobs, +1.4 percent), Sebring (+300 jobs +1.1 percent), and The Villages (+200 jobs, +0.6 percent).