Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell in March, with continuing strong job growth in Northeast Florida.
The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties fell from 4.6 percent in February to 4.1 percent in March, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday.
The state agency does not adjust the data for seasonal factors but the University of North Florida’s Local Economic Indicators Project reported that when the data is adjusted, the unemployment rate still fell from 4.56 percent to 4.2 percent last month.
“Jobs were created faster than the growth in our local workforce, resulting in this significant decline in the unemployment rate,” UNF economist Albert Loh said.
“While improvement in the unemployment rate is expected in March, such a strong growth in March seems a bit surprising, especially following an already strong growth in February,” he said.
Duval County’s unemployment rate, without adjustment, fell by 0.5 percentage points to 4.3 percent in March, said the Department of Economic Opportunity.
After seasonal adjustment, the county’s jobless rate fell from 4.94 percent to 4.46 percent, Loh said.
Florida’s statewide unemployment rate fell by 0.2 points to a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent, the Department of Economic Opportunity said.
The agency reported strong job growth in the Jacksonville area, with non-farm businesses adding 24,300 jobs from March 2016 through March 2017, a 3.7 percent growth rate.
Job gains were widespread across most industries, with one major exception in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector, which declined by 1.2 percent.
Railroad company CSX Corp. completed the elimination of 500 management level jobs at its Jacksonville headquarters operations in March.
Jacksonville’s job growth beat Florida’s statewide growth rate of 3 percent over the 12-month period.
Where the Jacksonville jobs are
Source: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity