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JOBLESS RATE DIPS IN NOVEMBER
TALLAHASSEE --- Florida ’ s unemployment rate dipped to 2.6 percent in November , after a brief surge in claims following Hurricane Ian .
The November rate was down from 2.7 percent in October , as Gov . Ron DeSantis credited the state ’ s “ resilience in this economy .”
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity , in a report released Friday , estimated that 280,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in November , down 5,000 from October and 87,000 from November 2021 . The estimated labor force grew by 352,000 over the year to 10.756 million .
“ Jobs are being added , unemployment is declining even when we had a near- Category 5 hurricane just a couple months ago ,” DeSantis said Friday during an event in Fort Myers Beach . “ So , it shows you that we have a lot of resilience in this economy , and we ’ re doing a lot of things right in the state of Florida .”
The national unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent from October to November , according to the U . S . Department of Labor , which estimated the U . S . economy added 263,000 jobs in November .
Florida ’ s leisure and hospitality sector continued to show the largest gains in new jobs , up 9,600 jobs from October and 97,000 over the year . The new numbers came even after the Category 4 Hurricane Ian caused at least two Southwest Florida resorts --- Ritz Carlton , Naples and South Seas Island Resort --- to lay off more than 800 people .
Ian made landfall Sept . 28 in Lee and Charlotte counties before crossing the state . Speaking to state senators Wednesday , Amy Baker , coordinator of the Legislature ’ s Office of Economic & Demographic Research , noted the impact of the storm on the state ’ s tax revenues in October .
“ We saw , for example , the tourism and leisure ( tax revenue ) category go up . That had a lot to do with evacuations and people having to travel into hotels . So , it was a little bit higher than normal ,” Baker said . “ Other things were lower than they should have been . … That ’ s because people are distracted . They ’ re dealing with the emergency . Businesses , depending on where you are , were closed right after the hurricane . So , it has kind of a negative effect . That ’ s detectable , particularly on sales tax ( collections ).”
Baker cautioned that tourism could be affected by lingering inflation , the prospect of a recession and issues such as a heavier reliance on credit cards .
“ Partially because this is mild , what we see is that people may still come , but they make different decisions ,” Baker said . “ I might have come for a week . And maybe now I ’ m only going to come for five days . Or I might have stayed in a higher-priced hotel . And now I ’ m
30 DITCHMEN • DECEMBER 2022