Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell in September to its lowest level in more than seven years, according to Florida Department of Economic Opportunity data.
The agency Friday reported the jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area — consisting of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties — fell from 5.5 percent in August to 5.1 percent last month.
That was the area’s lowest unemployment since the rate was below 5 percent in the early months of 2008.
The state agency does not adjust the data for seasonal factors but according to the University of North Florida’s Local Economic Indicators Project (LEIP), when the data is seasonally adjusted it still shows a similar drop in unemployment.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 5.46 percent in August to 5.11 percent in September, LEIP said.
The data was “all really good news,” said UNF economist Paul Mason. “It’s a very good outlook for employment.”
However, Mason also said LEIP’s consumer price index for the Jacksonville area declined for the third straight month in September. That deflation over the last three months is a signal of an overall weak local economy.
The Jacksonville area has been gaining jobs, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity’s survey of business payrolls. The total number of non-farm jobs grew by 16,200 from September 2014 through September 2015, a 2.6 percent growth rate.
However, one major job sector reported a sudden drop in employment last month. The construction industry lost 1,000 jobs from August to September, the state agency said.
Overall in the 12-month period through September, the construction industry had a net loss of 1,100 jobs, a 3.4 percent decline.
The only other major industry sectors in the Jacksonville area to lose jobs in the past 12 months were professional and technical services, down 7 percent, and the information sector, down 2.2 percent.
Those job losses were offset by gains in leisure and hospitality (up 6 percent), retail trade (up 5.9 percent) and education and health services (also up 5.9 percent).
Jacksonville’s job growth rate was lower than Florida’s statewide growth of 3 percent in the 12-month period, but the area’s unemployment rate was slightly better than the rest of the state.
Florida’s unemployment rate fell from a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in August to 5.2 percent in September, the Department of Economic Opportunity said.
Duval County’s unemployment rate fell from 6 percent in August to 5.4 percent last month, without any seasonal adjustment. LEIP reported that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the county’s jobless rate fell from 5.95 percent to 5.62 percent.
St. Johns County continued to have the second-lowest unemployment rate in the state at 3.8 percent in August, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity. The only county with lower unemployment was Monroe County in the Florida Keys, at 3.6 percent.