Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell in February, with area businesses continuing to add jobs.
The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area (Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties) fell from 3.9 percent in January to 3.5 percent in February, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday.
The agency said Jacksonville nonfarm businesses added 18,600 jobs from February 2017 through February 2018, a 2.7 percent growth rate.
That beat Florida’s statewide growth rate of 1.9 percent and was the second-best of any major metropolitan area in Florida, behind the 3.5 percent growth rate for the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area.
A surge in construction jobs led growth in the Jacksonville area with 3,800 jobs added in the 12-month period, a 9.2 percent gain.
Other high-growth sectors included a 4.1 percent gain in financial activities jobs, a 3.8 percent increase in retail and a 3.6 percent rise in leisure and hospitality.
No major sector reported job losses in the 12-month period. Even with big cuts at Jacksonville-based railroad company CSX Corp. in the past year, net employment in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector rose 3.1 percent.
The five counties in the Jacksonville metropolitan area all reported drops in unemployment in February. The Department of Economic Opportunity does not adjust the local data for seasonal factors.
Duval County’s jobless rate fell from 4 percent in January to 3.7 percent last month. St. Johns County continued to have the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Florida, falling by 0.4 percentage points to 3 percent in February.
Florida’s statewide unemployment rate, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, was unchanged at 3.9 percent in February.
