Bradenton-Sarasota jobless rate among state’s most enviable. Here’s why

Already home to one of the state’s most enviable unemployment rates, the Bradenton-Sarasota region saw another drop in December as employers added jobs for the holiday season.

Unemployment in the Bradenton-Sarasota-North Port metropolitan statistical area fell to 3.2 percent last month, down from 3.5 percent in November and well below the 4.4 percent in December 2016.

According to Florida Department of Economic Opportunity figures released Friday, only the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin region (3 percent) enjoyed a lower rate.

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater was slightly higher than Bradenton-Sarasota for the second straight month, coming in at 3.4 percent after being at 3.6 a month earlier.

Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 3.7 percent in December, up from 3.6 percent in November but down 1.2 percentage points year over year.

The U.S. unemployment rate has held steady at 4.1 percent for three consecutive months.

Friday’s report said the state added 27,400 jobs in December, no surprise as employers ramped up hiring heading into the holidays as well as the busiest time of tourist season, and continued to recover from Hurricane Irma, which hit the state in September.

Florida lost more than 127,000 jobs after Irma struck but has seen job growth since then – 125,300 in October, 13,100 in November and 27,400 in December.

There were an estimated 374,000 jobless Floridians out of a workforce of 10.1 million people last month, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity.

“We will fight each day to make sure our state remains the best place for new opportunities in 2018 and for years to come,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said while announcing the December job numbers at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Also, Scott noted that 185,000 people entered Florida’s labor force in the past year, a growth of 1.9 percent, which is nearly four times the national labor force growth rate of 0.5 percent.

In addition, the state’s unemployment rate has dropped seven percentage points since December 2010, faster than the national decline of 5.2 percent.

December was the 89th consecutive month with positive year-over-year growth, “creating nearly 205,000 jobs for families throughout the state,” Florida Department of Economic Opportunity executive director Cissy Proctor said.

Sectors showing the most year-over-year job growth across Florida in December:

• Professional and business services with 47,200;
• Construction with 43,900;
• Trade, transportation and utilities with 33,600;
• Education and health services with 22,300;
• Manufacturing with 16.200.

Manatee County had 169,702 of a total labor force of 175,418 employed last month for a 3.3 percent jobless rate.

In Sarasota County, 182,919 of 189,046 were employed for a 3.2 percent unemployment rate.

St. Johns County had the state’s lowest jobless rate in December at 2.8 percent. Hendry County remained the highest at 6.5 percent, followed by Hardee at 5.5.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Bradenton-Sarasota jobless rate among state’s most enviable. Here’s why."