Jacksonville’s labor market produced its best unemployment and job growth rates in more than a decade last month.
The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area (Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties) fell from 3.5 percent in August to 2.8 percent in September, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday.
Payrolls of nonfarm businesses in the region jumped by 30,200 from September 2017 through September 2018, a 4.4 percent growth rate.
That was the area’s best growth since the 12-month period ended in September 2005, when jobs on employer payrolls rose by 30,800 and the growth rate was 5.3 percent, according to Department of Economic Opportunity data.
University of North Florida economist Albert Loh said Jacksonville’s unemployment rate has not been this low since April 2006.
The Department of Economic Opportunity does not adjust the Jacksonville data for seasonal factors, but Loh said even when it is adjusted, it still shows a significant drop in unemployment in September.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the Jacksonville area fell from 3.58 percent in August to 2.87 percent in September, Loh said.
And there was more good news in September’s data.
“The average hourly earnings in the Jacksonville MSA rose by 1.7 percent from August to September. The growing workforce and job availability and the rising wages are strong indications of a healthy labor market and an expanding economy in Jacksonville,” he said.
Duval County’s unadjusted jobless rate fell by 0.8 percentage points to 2.9 percent last month, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported. When seasonally adjusted, Duval County’s unemployment rate fell by 0.66 points to 3.06 percent, Loh said.
Nearly every business sector in the Jacksonville metropolitan area reported job growth in the 12-month period through September, led by an 11.3 percent rise in leisure and hospitality, a 7.9 percent gain in professional and business services and a 7.2 percent increase in construction.
The only significant loss of jobs came in the wholesale trade sector, which declined by 1,100, or 4.4 percent, in the last 12 months.
Jacksonville’s unadjusted 2.8 percent jobless rate was one of the lowest in the state in September, but the lowest rates among metropolitan areas were in the Panhandle region hit by Hurricane Michael two weeks ago.
The Panama City metro area, which includes the devastated town of Mexico Beach, was tied for the second-lowest unemployment rate at an unadjusted 2.7 percent in September, before the storm.
West of Panama City, the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin area had the lowest jobless rate of any metro area at 2.4 percent.
Those rates could rise in the next couple of months, but PNC Bank Chief Economist Gus Faucher said in a report after Michael that the storm’s impact on the economy will likely be short-term.
“Any lost output and employment are likely to be made up in subsequent quarters,” he said.
“If Michael does cause extensive damage, reconstruction in the wake of the hurricane, funded by insurance payouts and federal aid, will boost affected local economies and hiring in late 2018 and early 2019. Similar patterns have been seen with other natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma last year.”
Florida’s statewide unemployment rate fell by 0.2 points to a seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent last month, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported.
