Looking at Florida's Employment Report - October

Scott Maynard

Monday, November 28, 2022

Economic DevelopmentEmploymentEmployment ReportFlorida

Looking at Florida's Employment Report - October

The CareerSource Northeast Florida Hiring Report for October 2022 showed continued growth and low unemployment in St. Johns County. The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has announced that the unemployment rate for the Jacksonville region increased slightly from 2.5 percent in September to 2.6 percent in October. Of the 875,077 people counted as part of the area's workforce in October, there were 22,536 unemployed residents in the region – up from 21,979 unemployed residents in September.

According to DEO’s September report, St. Johns County continued to have the lowest unemployment rate in Northeast Florida (2.1 percent) followed by Nassau County (2.3 percent), Clay County (2.4 percent), Baker County (2.5 percent), Duval County (2.7 percent) and Putnam County (3.8 percent).

CareerSource Northeast Florida (CareerSource NEFL) President Bruce Ferguson said, “The diversity of our regional economy is reflected in the year-to-date job growth in several industry sectors, especially in the area of professional and business services which added 12,700 jobs over the last 12 months – the highest annual job growth among metro areas statewide. Northeast Florida is also recovering well in the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 9,400 jobs over the last year, which is the third-fastest annual job growth rate compared to all Florida metro areas. In October alone, we saw a significant increase in accommodation and food service jobs of more than 200 percent in Northeast Florida.”
In St. Johns County our low unemployment rate of 2.1% continues to mean that employers are still struggling to fill open positions in certain key areas. Many employers are exploring creative options to help fill open positions. CareerSource recently sponsored a series of events around National Apprenticeship Week to highlight the benefits of apprenticeship programs as a way to attract and retain employees. Several employers in our county utilize apprenticeship programs to recruit.

^{To learn more contact:

Doreen Lund}

^{Apprenticeship Navigator

CareerSource NEFL

Apprentice Florida

215 N. Market Street, Suite 340

Jacksonville, FL 32202

904-798-0060 x2040

dlund@careersourcenefl.com}

^{Source: CareerSource Northeast Florida Hiring Report for October 2022 | Distributed: November 18, 2022}