quitting because they are confident that they can find a job somewhere else .”
The national unemployment rate in September was 4.8 percent , down from 5.2 percent in August . In all , 27 states showed lower rates in September than August . Only Massachusetts , where the rate went up 0.2 percentage points , posted an increase .
In a video release on Friday , Gov . Ron DeSantis highlighted the state ’ s nonagricultural employment , where the number of jobs grew by 84,500 month-to-month .
“ That ’ s a big chunk of the national numbers that were reported in September ,” DeSantis said in the video . “ We ’ re 6½ percent of the population , and then the jobs added ( a ) much , much greater percentage . So , we want to continue to work hard to provide people opportunity , create an environment that people want to work and live and thrive for themselves and their families .”
On Thursday , DeSantis called for a special legislative session next month to erect roadblocks against COVID-19 vaccination mandates being advanced by the White House for millions of workers across the country . On Wednesday , he called for the use of Florida ports as an alternative to Southern California ports , which have had bottlenecks of cargo ships .
Since the pandemic pushed nearly 1.27 million Floridians out of work between February and April 2020 , the state has regained just over 1 million jobs .
Eagle cautioned that it will still take some time for the effort started in May to get the unemployment rate back to pre-pandemic levels .
The state in June withdrew Florida early from two federal assistance programs --- the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation and Mixed Earners Unemployment Compensation programs --- and reinstated a “ work search ” requirement for people seeking unemployment benefits .
Other federal unemployment programs that were part of pandemic recovery efforts ended Sept . 6 .
“ It ’ s going to take some time for the workforce to line back up with the available jobs ,” Eagle said . “ But when you have federal policies that allow people to be unemployed for well over a year , and we ’ ve had nearly 500,000 in Florida collecting benefits for over a year , it does provide a disadvantage to those individuals to have to reconnect to the workforce . And that does take time .”
Florida since mid-May has seen little change in the weekly numbers of new unemployment claims , averaging 7,824 firsttime applications per week , according to the U . S . Department of Labor .
The first-time jobless claims average is similar to pre-pandemic levels .
Across Florida , the highest rates of unemployment remained inland in September , with the Sebring metropolitan statistical area at 5.7 percent , down from 6.5 percent in August . The Villages metropolitan statistical area was at 5.6 percent , down from 6.4 percent the prior month .
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area posted a 4.9 percent jobless mark , down from 5.6 percent in August and 9.6 percent in September 2020 .
The lowest unemployment rates last
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