by Karen Brune Mathis, Daily Record Managing Editor
Duval County’s unemployment rate continues to drop, falling to a seasonally adjusted 8.57 percent in April from 8.97 percent in March and 10.51 percent in April 2011.
The March and April rates were the first drops below 9 percent since January 2009, when the Duval County unemployment rate was 8.94 percent.
“The direction of the movement is good,” said University of North Florida economics professor Paul Mason, who adjusts the state’s reported numbers for seasonal factors.
Mason said he believes that Duval County’s unemployment rate will continue to fall slowly unless the eurozone debt crisis escalates, which he said would affect the area’s financial firms.
JAXUSA Partnership President Jerry Mallot said the recession has been over for a year or more. JAXUSA Partnership is the economic development arm of the JAX Chamber.
“The level of confidence in our economy has not been this strong since about 2005 or 2006,” Mallot said, referring to the peak years for area economic indicators.
The national unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent.
“I expect a bumpy process on monthly labor numbers while seeing a long-term decline in unemployment,” Mallot said. “Short-term, we may see some increase.”
Mallot said that world events impact the economy, “but we remain one of the most attractive growth areas.”
The national recession officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, although it’s generally considered to have lasted longer in Florida.
“Our unemployment rate has dropped from near 12 percent to 7.9 percent for the Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area and is leading the state in recovery,” Mallot said.
“We expect that to continue and it will probably still take another two or three years for unemployment to be in the ‘normal range,’” he said.
The metro area consists of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
For April, Mason said the Duval County unemployment rate still was slightly higher than the rate for the five-county metropolitan Jacksonville area.
“Employment was up and unemployment down, but the workforce also fell by a couple thousand,” Mason said.
At the same time, the number of people employed has grown and the number unemployed has dropped.