THE FLORIDA JOB MARKET
TALLAHASSEE --- Florida ’ s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1 percent in July , as state officials pointed to people continuing to reenter the labor force during the COVID-19 pandemic .
The state Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday that the July rate was up from a 5.0 percent mark in June . An estimated 530,000 Floridians were out of work in July from a workforce of 10.48 million , according to the department .
A problem remained in filling jobs , including advertised health-care , retail and foodservices positions that are seen as being below many people ’ s skill levels and as offering low wages .
“ I don ’ t think there ’ s a standout industry that ’ s impacted . I think a lot of employers are feeling the impacts ,” Adrienne Johnston , the department ’ s chief economist , told reporters in a conference call . “ Again , it just takes a little bit of time . If you think back to the last recession that we had , it took years for people to get connected back into the labor force . And this is already happening at a much faster rate .”
The number of Floridians who qualified as being out of work in July grew by 6,000 , while the workforce was up by 83,000 .
In July 2020 , as the state tried to reopen the economy after the pandemic caused businesses to shut down or scale back , Florida had an 11.5 percent unemployment rate , with 1.167 million people out of work from a workforce of 10.1 million .
“ When you look at June and July ( this year ), we actually saw a higher uptick of people joining the labor force . So , that ’ s probably an indication of positive impacts there ,” Johnston said . “ Things are continuing to increase . We are continuing to see people move back into the labor force . They are encouraged to find work , and it just takes a little bit of time for those connections to be made .”
The state ’ s jobless rate remained below the national figure of 5.4 percent .
The figures for Florida included 63,900 additional private sector jobs in July . Last week , Gov . Ron DeSantis said he anticipated “ pretty good ” July unemployment numbers , including the addition of private-sector jobs .
12 DITCHMEN • AUGUST 2021