Jacksonville’s unemployment rate jumped higher in July as Northeast Florida and the rest of the state experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties rose from a revised 7.8% in June to 8.8% in July, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported Aug. 21.
“There is plenty evidence showing that Jacksonville economy is still on a steady path to recovery, although the rise in COVID cases in July slowed down the reopening process temporarily,” said University of North Florida economist Albert Loh.
Unemployment had dropped sharply in June, from 10.4% in May, as businesses began to reopen.
The state agency’s survey found more people tried to return to work in July, with the number of people in the labor force rising by about 19,000 to 765,557.
But the number with jobs rose by only about 10,000 to 698,562.
People with jobs or who are actively seeking work are considered to be in the labor force.
A separate survey of nonfarm businesses found the number of jobs on Northeast Florida payrolls rose by 3,300 in July.
But in the 12-month period from July 2019 through July 2020, businesses had a net reduction of 25,500 jobs, or 3.5%.
Job gains in June were sparked by a return to work of leisure and hospitality workers. But after that sector gained 11,300 jobs in June, it lost 1,000 in July.
The leisure and hospitality sector had a net loss of 11,900 jobs in the 12 months through July, or a decline of 13.7%.
The retail sector also has suffered big losses, with a decline of 7,100 jobs in the past year, or 8.7%.
One sector increasing jobs in the pandemic is the hospital industry, which added 600 in July and 1,800 in the last 12 months, or 6.1%.
Duval County’s unemployment rate rose by 1.2 percentage points in July to 9.6%, the highest of the five counties in the Jacksonville metropolitan area.
Before the pandemic, St. Johns County had one of the lowest jobless rates in the state, but it rose from 6.8% to 7.4% last month.
Baker County, which rose from 5.9% to 6.6% last month, now has one of the lowest.
Only Lafayette and Wakulla counties, at 6.4%, were lower in July.
Clay rose from 6.6% to 7.2% and Nassau rose from 7.2% to 7.6%.
Florida’s statewide unemployment rate rose by 1 percentage point to a seasonally adjusted 11.3% in July, the Department of Economic Opportunity said.
The state agency does not adjust the Jacksonville area data for seasonal factors. But according to UNF’s Local Economic Indicators Project, when the data is seasonally adjusted, Jacksonville’s jobless rate rose from 7.16% in June to 8.73% in July. Duval County’s seasonally adjusted rate jumped from 7.54% to 9.42.%
Recent data shows the labor market is improving in Florida this month.
The number of new claims for unemployment insurance in the state averaged about 69,000 over the last three weeks, down from an average of 111,000 in the previous three weeks.
New unemployment claims in Florida peaked at 506,670 in the week ended April 18.