The Florida job market worsened in July as the state lost 3300 jobs and the unemployment rate rose to 8.8%. Job losses were
spread across various industries, led by wholesale trade and local
government, both down 3100 for the month (seasonally adjusted). Industries that added jobs included employment
agencies (temps) and amusement parks. In fact, employment agencies have
experienced an increase of 27,200 jobs over the last year (an 18% increase),
which represents nearly 40% of the net increase in overall jobs statewide. Number two in terms of adding jobs over the last year was food and accomodation places, with an increase of 11,500 while the industry shedding the most jobs was state government, down 6300 since July 2011. Overall, the private sector has added 7800 jobs thus far in 2012, while the public sector lost 9600, resulting in a net loss of 1800 jobs so far this year. Meanwhile, the labor force declined slightly, reducing the labor force participation rate to 60%. The decline in the participation rate is responsible for about a third of the decline in the unemployment rate this year.
The unemployment rate for metro Orlando rose to 9.1% from 8.7% in June. About half of the increase was due to seasonal factors. The government releases its estimate of the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for metropolitan areas several weeks after the main job report. It's likely that the seasonally-adjusted rate rose from 8.5% to 8.7%. Orlando lost 5500 jobs in July and now reports a one percent increase over the past year, the same as Florida with both lagging the country, which posted an increase of 1.4%.
What's the takeaway from this report? Both the state and local economy continue to struggle to recover from the Great Recession, with job markets that continues to be quite weak.
