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Steady job gains across Florida amid slight increase in January unemployment

Caden DeLisa

Magnifying glass over a newspaper classified section with Job Market text

Florida’s job market remained steady in January with a minor rise in unemployment to 3.1 percent, yet job numbers grew across key sectors, outperforming the national growth rate.

Florida’s job market remained stable in January with a slight uptick in year-over-year unemployment, despite continuous job growth across several major industries, according to the latest figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor in cooperation with the Florida Department of Commerce.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.1 percent in January 2024, unchanged from December 2023 but showing a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points from January 2023. This contrasts with the national unemployment rate, which was 3.7 percent in January.

Florida saw an addition of 38,800 jobs in January 2024, bringing the state’s total nonagricultural employment to 9,904,600 — a 0.4 percent increase over the month and a 2.7 percent increase over the year. This growth outpaced the national job growth rate of 1.9 percent.

“Florida has started off the year strong by growing jobs at twice the national average,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis in a prepared statement. “Florida continuously outperforms the national economy with fiscal stewardship, growth friendly policies, limited government spending, and one of the lowest tax burdens per capita in the nation.”

Significant job gains were noted across nine of ten major industries, with education and health services leading the growth by adding 67,100 jobs, a 4.6 percent increase. Other sectors such as trade, transportation, and utilities, and leisure and hospitality also saw substantial increases. However, the information sector experienced a decrease, shedding 1,900 jobs, a 1.2 percent decline.

Regionally, Miami-Dade County reported the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 1.4 percent, closely followed by Monroe County at 2.1 percent. The Tampa-Saint Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan statistical area followed, tallying an increase of 34,400 jobs, translating to a 2.3 percent growth rate, while Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford added 31,000 jobs, a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year.

Conversely, Citrus County faced the highest unemployment rate at 5.2 percent, indicating economic disparities across the state.

The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division led the metro areas in job gains with an increase of 47,000 jobs, a 3.7 percent growth.