(The Center Square) — Florida’s unemployment rate has fallen to a near-record low and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that Florida has the lowest unemployment rate among the top 10 largest states in the U.S.
"Through strong economic policy and strategic investments, Florida is outperforming the nation and providing more opportunity for its citizens, resulting in more than 200,000 new business formations this year alone and an unemployment rate near an all-time low." DeSantis stated in a news release.
According to the latest release from the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity, Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.6% in April, 0.4% smaller from the previous year and significantly lower than the U.S. unemployment rate of 3.4%.
The report shows that the Sunshine State’s adjusted nonagricultural employment was 9,704,700 in April 2023. Florida’s jobs increased by 3.9%, gaining 363,400 new employment positions over the past year.
Florida has experienced positive job growth over the past year in nine of the 10 major industries, according to the DEO release. Education and health service jobs grew by 90,600, while leisure and hospitality jobs grew by 89,000.
Trade, transportation, and utility jobs rose by 54,300 and business service jobs increased by 50,200. Government jobs have increased by 27,000, along with manufacturing, which added over 13,300 jobs. The information industry was the only industry to lose jobs over the year, losing 1,500 jobs from the market.
The DEO report also states that 281,000 Floridians were unemployed in April 2023, out of a seasonally adjusted civilian labor workforce of 10,960,000. Florida counties with the lowest unemployment rates include Monroe County at 1.4%, Miami-Dade County at 1.8%, and Gulf, St. Johns and Okaloosa counties at 2% each.
Florida counties with the highest unemployment rates are Citrus, Hendry and Highlands counties, and all three sit at 3.4% and 3.3% respectively. Other counties also currently at 3.1% are Gadsden, Hamilton, Hardee, Putnam and Sumter counties.
The metropolitan areas of Tampa, Orlando, and Miami has had the most gains in job growth, adding a total of 161,200 jobs from April 2022 to April 2023 and included the surrounding areas of St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Miami Beach, Kendall, Kissimmee and Sanford.
Wallethub’s latest report also ranks Florida 11th out of the states for lowest unemployment rates — coming in behind Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Montana, Maryland, Alabama, Maine, North Dakota and Vermont.
Labor force participation rates in the Sunshine State, however, are nowhere near the 63.7% high reached during the late 1980’s and again in the early 2000’s. The U.S. Census Bureau’s data shows that as of April 2023, labor force participation rates in Florida sat at 59.3% overall, having steadily recovered after hitting an all-time low during the COVID-19 pandemic at 53.9% in April 2020.