Florida’s unemployment rate plummets — but only about half of jobs lost to virus have been regained
Florida’s unemployment rate plummeted from 11.4% in July to 7.4% in August, reflecting statewide reopenings following the pandemic shutdown. The decrease also might have been impacted by the expiration of $600 in federal pandemic unemployment assistance and the 12-week limit on Florida unemployment benefits.
In South Florida, the unemployment dropped from double to single digits. Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate fell from 14.5% to 8.1%; Broward’s fell from 13.3% to 9.3%.
While the August figure signals an economic recovery has taken root, it comes alongside other signs that the rebound is still in its earliest phases.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday that only about half of the 1,178,100 jobs lost from February to April have been regained. Florida had 8,525,100 jobs in August 2020, down 456,100 jobs compared to a year ago.
The state added 57,900 net new jobs in August. At that rate, it would take about eight more months to recover the jobs lost over the past 12 months.
Accommodation and food-service jobs have the longest way to go. Statewide, the sector remained more than 201,000 jobs short of its August 2019 employment level. Last month, it added only 1,000 new jobs. In Miami-Dade, the sector lost 5,900 net jobs; in Broward, the figure fell by 600.
Abbey Omodunbi, economist with PNC Financial Services, said an uneven recovery will remain the norm without additional, significant fiscal stimulus from Washington.
“I think the recession would have been worse if not for the stimulus already passed by Congress,” he said. “The strength of the recovery is dependent on the path of the virus but also sufficient stimulus going forward.”
Central Florida remains the hardest-hit region in the state, with unemployment rates in Orange and Osceola counties continuing to hover in the double-digits. Orange’s unemployment rate fell from 16.2% to 11.6%, while Osceola’s fell from 20.4% to 15.1%.
“We had the major theme parks shut down, and they were not all fully open until we got into July, so there was a huge loss of economic activity here,” said Sean Snaith, economist at the University of Central Florida. He added that ongoing disruptions in the travel industry resulted in significant losses in convention business.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done in tourism,” he said.
All other counties reported unemployment rates below 10%.
Some of the drop in unemployment was likely the result of Florida workers’ simply having fallen off assistance rolls. The $600-per-week federal boost in benefits expired July 31; the state’s assistance limit means workers unemployed since April no longer qualify.
This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled his administration would not support an effort by President Donald Trump to provide $300 in assistance to laid off workers because the state lacked the required matching funds.
A total of 753,000 Florida workers remained unemployed in August, meaning they were still collecting benefits.
