Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell in April to its lowest level since the last recession, despite relatively slow job growth.
The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area fell from 3.2% in March to 2.8% in April, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday.
That’s the first time the jobless rate has been below 3% since 2006. The state agency previously reported Jacksonville’s unemployment rate below 3% for three straight months in late 2018 but after a revision of last year’s data, the agency said the rate bottomed out at 3.1% at the end of the year.
While unemployment fell, the number of jobs on nonfarm business payrolls in the Jacksonville area grew by 11,600 from April 2018 to April 2019, a 1.6% growth rate.
One reason for the drop in unemployment was a decline of nearly 3,000 people in the overall labor force last month. When people are not employed but aren’t actively seeking a job, they are not counted as part of the labor force.
Still, the decline in the jobless rate last month was noteworthy, said University of North Florida economist Albert Loh.
“Since the unemployment rate usually sees little change from March to April, these drops in the unemployment rate are quite significant,” he said.
The Department of Economic Opportunity does not adjust the Jacksonville data for seasonal factors but UNF’s Local Economic Indicators Project reported that when it is seasonally adjusted, Jacksonville’s unemployment rate dropped from 3.28% in March to 2.83% in April.
Duval County’s unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points last month to 3%, without seasonal adjustment. Loh said when it is adjusted, the rate fell from 3.42% to 3.13% in April.
Duval was the only county in the Jacksonville metropolitan area that was not below 3% in April. St. Johns County was at 2.4%, Nassau County was at 2.7% and Baker and Clay counties were both at 2.8%.
The Department of Economic Opportunity said 29 of Florida’s 67 counties had jobless rates below 3% in April, the most in 13 years.
Florida’s statewide unemployment rate fell by 0.1 point last month to a seasonally adjusted 3.4%, the agency said.
Jacksonville’s job growth has been between 1% and 2% for the first four months of 2019, below Florida’s statewide growth rate of 2.4% in April.
One reason for the lower job growth this year has been a slowdown in construction jobs in the Jacksonville area. The construction sector had a year-over-year decline in jobs in February and March and had a small 0.2% increase in the 12-month period through April.
However, Loh said it was encouraging that the sector grew by 1,300 jobs from March to April, indicating renewed strength in the housing market.
The biggest decline in jobs in the 12-month period through April came in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector, which fell by 1,400, or 3.8%
Another big drop was in finance and insurance, which lost 900 jobs, or 1.6%.
The best private sector gains in the past year came in leisure and hospitality, up 3,000 or 3.5%; education and health services, up 2,600 or 2.4%; and professional and business services, up 2,200 or 2.1%.
“Overall, the local labor market in Jacksonville remains very strong,” Loh said.
