Marion County workforce: October unemployment rate was 4.6%, down from September's 4.7%

Marion County's unemployment rate was 4.6% in October, with 6,657 more people employed and 295 fewer people unemployed than the same month last year.

Marion County's unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.6% is down from 4.7% in September and down from 6.1% in October 2020.

The labor force in Marion County in October was 146,049, up 739 from September and up 5,362 when compared to the year prior.

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The number of people employed in October was 139,278, up 811 from September and 6,657 since October 2020.

The number of unemployed was 6,771 in October, down 72 since September and down 295 compared with the year prior.

A look at the region

The unemployment rate in the CareerSource Citrus Levy Marion three-county region was 4.7% in October, down from 4.8% in September.

A CareerSource CLM press release states that across the three-county region the labor force was 213,031 in October, an increase of 10,519 year over year and a increase of 173 from September.

The number of people with jobs increased by 1,191 in one month to 213,031, and increase by 10,952 when compared to October 2020.

The number of unemployed declined to 10,298, or 150 fewer than September and 433 fewer than a year ago.

The data comes from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity's monthly jobs report. The October report was released on Friday.

In the tri-county region, Levy County had the lowest jobless rate at 4.1%, down 0.2 percentage points over the month. Marion County followed with 4.6%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points, and Citrus County was 5.2%, down 0.1 percentage points.

Florida’s unadjusted October unemployment rate was 4.6 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points since September's revised rate and 1.6 percentage points lower than October 2020.

Among Florida’s 67 counties, Citrus County’s unemployment rate was tied with Sumter County at sixth highest. Marion County was ranked 13th and Levy County ranked 25th highest, tied with eight other counties.

Dale French, CareerSource CLM's executive vice president, said all counties showed improvement in terms of talent pool shortages.

“Not only are we seeing labor force figures rising, but the numbers also indicate that individuals gaining employment are outpacing labor force growth,” French said.

He also added that “this shows that workers who had previously dropped out of the labor force are also returning to work.”

A closer look at Ocala/Marion County

The nonagricultural employment in the Ocala metropolitan statistical area, which covers all of Marion County, was 109,400 in October, an increase of 2,100 jobs over the year. That was a 2% annual growth rate.

In addition to manufacturing, other industries gaining jobs over the year in the Ocala metro area were trade, transportation, and utilities (+700 jobs); mining, logging, and construction (+500 jobs); leisure and hospitality (+500 jobs); other services (+200 jobs); and education and health services (+100 jobs).

The fastest growing sectors in Marion County were manufacturing at 8.3%, and mining, logging, and construction at 5.8%. The region’s preliminary employment summary for November will be released on Dec. 17.

Joe Callahan can be reached at (352) 817-1750 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala/Marion County unemployment rate decreased again in October