Name: Florida sees dramatic jobs rebound as unemployment rate drops to 7.4%
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Florida sees dramatic jobs rebound as unemployment rate drops to 7.4%

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AdvertisementBy South Florida Sun SentinelSep 18, 2020 at 5:41 pmFlorida’s monthly unemployment rate plunged to an unexpected 7.4% in August as businesses across the state reopened from COVID-19 lockdowns and recalled large numbers of workers.The state Department of Economic Opportunity said Florida’s nonagricultural employment totaled 8,525,100 last month, an increase of 57,900 jobs over July, when the jobless rate was 11.3%.AdvertisementA total of 753,000 Floridians were jobless in labor force of 10,138,000, the agency said in its monthly jobs report released Friday.All three South Florida counties saw their jobless rates dip below double digits, with Broward’s falling to 8.1% from 14.5% in July. Palm Beach County’s rate dipped to 8% from 11.6%, while Miami-Dade’s fell to 9.3% from 13.3%, the DEO said.Advertisement“The unemployment rate’s return to the single digits, Phase 2 reopenings and an uptick in hiring for the tourist season suggest that recovery is gaining some traction,” said Julia Dattolo, interim president and CEO of CareerSource Palm Beach County, the nonprofit job search agency.But the state has lost 456,100 jobs since August 2019, a decrease of 5.1%. The latest jobless rate was still substantially higher than a year ago, when 4.4% of Floridians in the workforce were in the market for jobs.“In a normal year a 7.4% unemployment rate would be a huge cause for concern,” said William Luther an economist and assistant professor at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business. “But just a few months ago we were staring down the barrel of a 19% unemployment rate. That we are back to 7.4% so quickly is good news. It doesn’t mean that everything is okay today. A lot of people are still unemployed. Some of those people don’t have jobs to return to because businesses have failed or down-scaled.”Although most industries showed job recoveries between July and August, the numbers were not nearly enough to contribute to a strong year-over-year rebound.For example, leisure and hospitality, among the hardest hit by the pandemic, showed a gain of 2,600 jobs month to month. But when measured against August 2019, those jobs declined by 289,400.The same applied to the trade, transportation and utilities sector, a category that showed a month-to-month gain of 6,600 jobs, but a year-over-year decline of 54,500, according to DEO figures.In a news briefing Friday, Adrienne Johnston, the DEO’s chief of the bureau of labor market statistics, said the decline in unemployment reflected the reopening of businesses and the ability of many parents to return to work because their children are going to back to school.“We know that the schools will be starting to open back up even though they were moving to virtual," she said. "I think that’s a significant factor that contributed to this. It opened opportunities for parents to go back to work as well.”AdvertisementJohnston said those returning to work may not be filling the same jobs they left after the pandemic hit. But the key, she said, "is that people are getting back into the labor market and they are getting back into jobs. That is what the rest of the country is experiencing.”Despite persistent notices of extended industries, the pace of layoffs has been declining in Florida after the state government authorized the reopening of many parts of the economy.And staffing firms are seeing significant improvements in demand for financial professionals and workers with skills in manufacturing, construction and real estate, said Chad Leibundguth, district president of Robert Half in Florida and Louisiana.“The West Palm Beach-Fort Lauderdale area seems to be moving along pretty fast," he said. "The Miami market may be a little bit slower because of the COVID rates down there. But you go up north to Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm, and that market seems to be picking up quite a bit of steam.”As it happensGet updates on developing stories as they happen with our free breaking news email alerts. &gt; This month, Florida informed the U.S. Department of Labor that fewer layoffs have been occurring in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade and service industries.But available jobs in tourism and transportation — the chief engines of the tri-county area’s economy — are likely to take a hit if the to start cutting staffs on Oct. 1, the first day they are allowed to do so under payroll-financing agreements they cut with the U.S. Government.AdvertisementBesides continued hotel and restaurant furloughs, rental car agencies are shedding employees as they adjust to expected downturns in year-over-year visits by tourists. This week, for example, statewide staff reduction notices placed by Avis Budget appeared on the DEO’s list of layoff notices.Compared with the rest of the state, South Florida’s job market remains at a disadvantage after Gov. Ron DeSantis delayed authorizations for the economies of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties to ease public health restrictions and reopen businesses that rely on person-to-person contact. The upshot has been double-digit unemployment rates in all three counties throughout the summer.Yet, the state and regional job markets are recovering from the pandemic-driven lockdowns, economists say. But employment won’t return to pre-pandemic levels for at least another two to three years.“Job growth will help ease the damage to the labor market from the lockdown,” said Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Forecasting at the University of Central Florida in a recent report. “But the road to recovery will take several years. The economy was closing in on full employment, with acceleration of wage growth before the self-inflicted recession took its toll.”Eventually, he said, the state’s unemployment rate will drop below 4% to as low as 3.9% — by 2023. Advertisement

AdvertisementBy South Florida Sun SentinelSep 18, 2020 at 5:41 pmFlorida’s monthly unemployment rate plunged to an unexpected 7.4% in August as businesses across the state reopened from COVID-19 lockdowns and recalled large numbers of workers.The state Department of Economic Opportunity said Florida’s nonagricultural employment totaled 8,525,100 last month, an increase of 57,900 jobs over July, when the jobless rate was 11.3%.AdvertisementA total of 753,000 Floridians were jobless in labor force of 10,138,000, the agency said in its monthly jobs report released Friday.All three South...

Florida sees dramatic jobs rebound as unemployment rate drops to 7.4%

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