Advertisement

Florida loses 5,000 jobs in February, unemployment rate is unchanged

 
There are signs Florida's economic recovery is slowing down. Gov. Rick Scott released the latest jobs and unemployment data today.
[Associated Press file photo]
There are signs Florida's economic recovery is slowing down. Gov. Rick Scott released the latest jobs and unemployment data today. [Associated Press file photo]
Published March 25, 2017

Florida's economic recovery is slowing down.

Figures released by the state Friday show unemployment hovering at 5 percent — unchanged from both January and this time last year — as the state shed 5,000 jobs over the past month. The national unemployment rate is 4.7 percent.

Gov. Rick Scott, who announced the latest figures during a stop at Bealls headquarters in Bradenton, sidestepped the monthly job dip. Instead, in a statement, he focused on the longer string of adding jobs, noting the state's job growth rate of 3.3 percent since last year exceeds the national growth rate of 1.8 percent.

The construction sector remains one of the strongest spots year over year. Florida added 34,700 construction jobs since February, 2016, the largest number of any state. California had the second most new construction jobs at 16,500.

Chris McCarty, director of the University of Florida Bureau of Economic Research, said the increase in construction jobs is a reflection of a greater demand for housing. "But that's coming off of a multi-year low" for construction jobs, he said.

The state's construction industry, which was cut in half during the recession, has rebounded to nearly 500,000 jobs, moving closer to its peak just below 700,000 in 2006. But the experts don't necessarily see a repeat of that heyday.

"You could argue that where we were in 2006 was certainly not sustainable and not a reflection of a well-functioning system," McCarty said. "The question is, 'Where is healthy construction employment?'"

Still, many of the new jobs being created are in lower-paying industries, such as retail trade, tourism and health care.

"It's a real concern, I think, longer-term in general that there's this split between sort of the high end jobs and the low end jobs," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James Financial.

Adjacent to — but not included in — these figures is that Florida typically has lower wages than the national average.

That means that while the cost of living is relatively low, "for your typical worker, it's still an uphill battle," Brown said.

Tampa Bay added 7,900 jobs over the month and is now up 36,100 jobs compared to a year ago. Overall, the state has added 248,800 jobs since last year, second nationally only to California as it tops perennial jobs rival Texas.

Hernando County tied for the state's eighth-highest unemployment rate at 6.1 percent, down from 6.8 percent last month. Pasco clocked in at 5.1 percent, Hillsborough at 4.4 percent and Pinellas at 4.3 percent.

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com. Follow @malenacarollo.