Duval County’s unemployment rate continues to drop, falling to a seasonally adjusted 7.98 percent in May from 8.58 percent in April and 9.78 percent in May 2011.
“Dropping below 8 percent locally is a good sign for obvious reasons,” said University of North Florida economics professor Paul Mason, who adjusts the state’s reported numbers for seasonal factors.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported the numbers Friday.
In addition to a lower rate signaling lower unemployment, Mason said another good sign is that Duval is the leading county for population and jobs in the metro area, and a drop carries a strong influence throughout the metro area.
“Duval County is the dominant county in terms of local employment and it has been the peripheral counties that have been driving unemployment downward over the last several months,” he said.
For the five-county area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns, the seasonally adjusted May unemployment rate was 8.23 percent, up slightly from 8.2 percent over the month but down from 9.97 percent in May 2011.
Statewide, the jobless rate edged lower from a seasonally adjusted 8.7 percent in April to 8.6 percent in May, the lowest since December 2008.
The department also reported that nonfarm employers in the Jacksonville area added 2,400 jobs to their payrolls from May 2011 through May 2012, a 0.4 percent growth rate.
The labor force is defined as people working or looking for work. A labor force does not count the people who are out of work and not seeking a job.
In Duval County, the labor force has expanded over the month and over the year.
The number of people employed rose over the month and the year, while the number of unemployed people rose slightly over the month but dropped by more than 8,000 people over the year.
In more detail, state numbers show:
• The Duval County labor force was up by 7,925 people over the month and was up by 758 people over the year.
• In May, there were 447,876 people in Duval’s labor force, up from 439,951 in April and 447,118 in May 2011.
• Employment was up 7,141 for the month and 9,233 for the year.
• Duval’s employment count in May was 410,048, up from 402,907 in April and up from 400,815 in May 2011.
• Unemployment rose by 784 over the month but dropped by 8,475 over the year.
• The number of unemployed people rose to 37,828 in May from 37,044 in April, but fell from 46,303 in May 2011.
In a separate measure, the department reported total nonfarm employment in the metro area of 595,900.
Employment is heavily weighted toward services jobs.
Goods-producing employment continued to constitute about 8.6 percent of the nonfarm jobs, while service-providing jobs dominate with 91.4 percent.
Overall, the state found that the area gained 2,400 nonfarm jobs over the year.
However, services jobs continued to grow while production jobs dropped. Service-providing jobs grew by 4,800, while goods-producing jobs dropped by 2,400 positions.
Within goods-producing industries, construction lost 2,100 jobs and manufacturing jobs dropped by 300.
Within service-providing industries, government jobs fell by 1,500 over the year while private jobs gained 6,300.
Within private service-providers, professional and technical employees, retail trade, and education and health services employment increased the most.
Areas that showed lower levels of service-providing employment included administrative and waste services; telecommunications; finance and insurance; wholesale trade; leisure and hospitality; and management of companies and enterprises.
Duval’s unadjusted unemployment rate of 8.4 percent was the third-best in the seven-county region.
While the metro area is five counties, the JAX Chamber focuses on a region that also includes Flagler and Putnam counties, which have the highest unadjusted unemployment rates in the area.
Flagler County had an 11.7 percent unemployment rate in May, lower than 11.6 percent in April but still the highest in the state, tied with Hendry County.
Within the seven-county area, St. Johns County posted the lowest unadjusted rate in May at 6.7 percent.
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Regional county unemployment rates for May
Flagler County tied with Hendry County for the highest unemployment rate in the state in May at 11.7 percent. The lowest was Monroe County at 4.9 percent. Rates are unadjusted for seasonal factors.
| County rate | Rate | Unemployment rank among 67 counties | |
| Flagler | 11.7% | No. 1 (tie) | |
| Putnam | 10.1% | No. 6 | |
| Florida | 8.5% | ||
| Duval | 8.4% | No. 29 | |
| U.S. | 7.9% | ||
| Baker | 7.7% | No. 45 | |
| Clay | 7.6% | No. 46 | |
| Nassau | 7.3% | No. 50 | |
| St. Johns | 6.7% | No. 61 |
Source: Florida Department of Economic Opportunity