Florida added 296,000 jobs in June as unemployment falls
Florida’s economy showed further signs of recovering from the impact of coronavirus shutdowns in June, adding 296,000 jobs and showing lower unemployment compared with May, the state reported Friday.
But the survey used to report June’s data only cover about half of the month, and did not capture Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order to suspend on-premise alcohol consumption at bars — suggesting the full picture of the state’s economic recovery remains incomplete.
The Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday the state’s unemployment rate fell 3.3 percentage points to 10.4%. The 296,000 jobs added were an even greater surge in new jobs than the approximately 183,000 jobs added in May.
Despite this upswing, the state’s economy remains far off its pre-pandemic levels. Total jobs hit 8,396,900, a figure that is 541,800 short of where employment stood in June 2019. Half of that shortfall was in the leisure and hospitality sector, where employment was down 21.5%, or 268,400 jobs, year on year.
“June labor statistics reflect the continued effects of COVID-19 and the efforts to reopen businesses and services,” DEO said in its release.
The jobs picture in Miami-Dade is emblematic. While the county’s unemployment rate fell from 12% to 11.5% from May to June, it is nowhere near the 2.5% unemployment rate it saw in June of 2019. While the county added more than 49,000 jobs in June, the total number of unemployed workers fell by just 414 individuals for the month; there remain 145,655 Miami-Dade workers looking for a job.
It’s a similar story in Broward. Although the unemployment rate fell from 15.2% in May to 11.8% in June, the 3.2% rate it saw in June of last year remains well out of reach. Broward added more than 44,000 jobs last month, and did see a large decline in the ranks of its unemployed: 31,588 workers.
In Monroe County, unemployment fell from 16.5% to 9.9%.
Central Florida continues to be the hardest hit region when measured by unemployment rate. Osceola County now has the state’s highest rate, at 22.9%, followed by Orange County at 17.2% and Lake County at 14.3%.
State officials cautioned on a call with media Friday that the so-called “reference week” for collecting June’s data was June 12, before DeSantis’ June 26 order to effectively close bars and a period that may not have captured the full renewed resurgence in coronavirus cases.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a surge in new unemployment claims for the week ended July 11, suggesting Florida’s July unemployment data — which will be reported in August — could see a slowing of the recovery.
“The longer [the pandemic] continues, businesses will be impacted, but it’s still too early to tell what the long-term impact will be,” said Adrienne Johnston, bureau chief at the DEO on a call with media Friday morning.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 11:11 AM.
