Florida jobless level nudges up in September, while Miami area retains lowest mark

While remaining near historic lows, Florida’s unemployment rate ticked up in September for the second time this year.

The state Department of Commerce said Florida had a 2.8% unemployment rate last month, up from 2.7% in August.

The number of people considered unemployed increased by 6,000 from August to 309,000. Meanwhile, a seasonally adjusted employment total grew by 19,600 jobs.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area continued to have the state’s lowest unemployment rate in September, at 2.5%. Within that area, the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall region was at 1.5%.

At the high end, areas including The Villages and Homosassa Springs were both at 4.8%, followed by the Sebring area at 4.7%.

“It’s important to remember that as Florida’s population grows, even if we maintain a very low unemployment rate like we have now at 2.8 percent, we are going to continue to see increases in both the employed and unemployed categories,” Jimmy Heckman, the department’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, told reporters Friday.

During the past year, the state added 241,200 jobs, a 2.5% increase. That topped the national pace of 2.1%. The national unemployment rate in September was 3.8%.

Florida’s jobless mark stood at 2.6% from January until July, when it went to 2.7%. It stayed at that level until September.

“Florida had the fastest population growth rate of any state in the country and the largest net migration increase of any state in the country in 2022,” Heckman said. “We think we are continuing to see those trends play out as we close 2023.”

Among categories that saw job increases in September were professional and business services and education and health services. But the leisure and hospitality sector — typically among the state’s economic drivers — dropped by 5,800 jobs from August to September.

“Florida had a really outsized share of tourism the year before,” Heckman said. “I think it’s reasonable to expect some leveling off of tourism and the jobs that support that industry going forward.”

While third-quarter tourism numbers won’t be released for about another month, Visit Florida in August estimated that tourism in the second quarter was down 1.2% — with tourism from other parts of the U.S. off 2.4% — compared to the same period in 2022.

The state’s tourism numbers had been riding high as Florida was one of the first areas to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Visit Florida CEO Dana Young has pointed to growing competition from other states and countries and people considering new places to spend travel dollars.

The state has also faced pressure as groups such as the NAACP, Equality Florida and the League of United Latin American Citizens in recent months have issued travel advisories about Florida because of their opposition to a series of decisions on issues such as how Black history is taught and restricting diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Young has said such pressure hasn’t had a “meaningful” impact.

In other parts of Florida, here are the September unemployment rates:

▪ The Jacksonville area was at 3%.

▪ Areas including Pensacola and Orlando were at 3.1%.

▪ The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area was at 3.2%.

▪ Naples was at 3.3%.

▪ The Lakeland-Winter Haven area was at 3.8%.

The statewide unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, while rates for the metropolitan statistical areas are not adjusted.