Florida’s unemployment rate fell, job gains picked up in October as pandemic pain eased

Florida’s unemployment rate fell and job gains picked up in October, a sign that the state’s battered economy experienced some relief during the period.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from a revised 7.2% to 6.5% last month, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday. That is lower than the U.S. rate of 6.9%. There were 659,000 out-of-work Floridians, down from 770,000 in September.

Florida added 51,600 new, non-agricultural jobs, an increase from September’s 47,300 figure, though still below August’s 57,900 clip.

Manatee added 2,385 jobs in October, while Sarasota County added 2,551.

Ned Murray, associate director of the Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, said the data are reason for cautious optimism.

“We’ve been trending in the right direction for the last two months, and the October numbers were very encouraging,” Murray said. “With the caveat that...given COVID infection rates and what that might mean to closings, that it could set us back.”

In Manatee County, the unemployment rate stayed at 5.2%.. Sarasota County’s unemployment rate dropped, from 5.2% in September to 4.9% in October.

Osceola County, in Central Florida, had the highest rate among Florida’s 67 counties, 10.4%, followed by Miami-Dade at 8.8%.

Wakulla County, in the Panhandle, had the lowest rate, 3.5%

The state’s leisure and hospitality industry added 29,600 new jobs, though most of these were at restaurants; hotels shed another 600 jobs in October. On Thursday, Visit Florida released third-quarter numbers showing a 32% year-on-year drop in tourism, an improvement from the 60.5% drop seen in the second quarter. But the state is on track for its lowest count of annual visitors since 2011.

More than 2.7 million Floridians have filed for unemployment since the start of the pandemic.