Jacksonville’s unemployment rate jumped higher in January with Northeast Florida businesses reporting a net loss of jobs over the previous year, the Florida Department of Commerce reported April 8.
The labor market data was the worst for the Jacksonville area since the coronavirus pandemic.
Excluding the pandemic, the last time Jacksonville businesses reported a net decline in jobs was June 2010 as the economy was recovering from the so-called “Great Recession” which lasted from December 2007 through June 2009.
The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties rose from 4.7% in December 2025 to 5.2% in January, the Department of Commerce said.
That was the highest jobless rate since it was also 5.2% in November 2020. Jacksonville-area nonfarm businesses reported a net decline of 3,900 jobs from January 2024 through January 2025, a 0.5% decrease.
Jacksonville’s drop in jobs mirrored a statewide trend, as Florida had a 0.2% decline in jobs in the 12-month period.
Florida’s unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to a seasonally adjusted 4.5% in January.
The Department of Commerce does not provide seasonally adjusted data for local areas in its monthly reports.
All five counties in the Jacksonville metro area experienced a rise in the unemployment rate with Clay County the highest at 5.3%, followed by Duval at 5.2%.
The other three counties were all at 5.1%.
For the entire area, the labor force – comprising people with jobs or actively looking for employment – fell by more than 4,000 to 840,540.
The number of people who said they were unemployed but looking for work rose by more than 4,000 to 43,821.
The decline in jobs reported by Northeast Florida businesses was widespread among most industry sectors.
The biggest losses came in the professional and business services sector, which declined by 3,600 in the 12 months through January, followed by 3,100 in the financial activities sector.
Government jobs dropped by 2,700.
Only two major industry sectors reported increases in jobs. The private education and health services sector rose by 5,300 in the 12 months and leisure and hospitality rose by 2,300.
The Department of Commerce’s January report is delayed every year because the agency makes revisions to previous year’s data. This year’s report was further delayed because of federal government shutdowns.
The state’s labor market report for February is scheduled for release April 17.