Florida Unemployment Rate Changed Drastically. What Does It Mean for You?

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Florida's unemployment rate fell to 2.5% in December despite employers struggling to fill openings.

Florida employers collectively report 442,000 job openings, down from 455,000 in December. About 271,000 Floridians were unemployed last month from a labor force totaling 10.76 million workers.

The unemployment rate dropped from 2.6% in November to 3.5% in December 2021, according to the latest report released by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Jimmy Heckman, chief of workforce statistics and economic research of the Department of Economic Opportunity, said, "Florida's statewide unemployment rate has now remained under the national rate for 25 consecutive months."

In a press statement, Governor Ron DeSantis noted that Florida's workforce had grown by 3.5% over the previous year, outpacing the 1.6% growth experienced nationwide.

The country's unemployment rate in December was 3.5%, or 5.7 million unemployed persons, down 278,000 from the same month a year earlier.

President Joe Biden said, "Under my plan to build an economy that works from the bottom up and the middle out, we've achieved the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, and 2021 and 2022 were the best years for job growth on record."

In most of the Fed's 12 districts, employment continues to show modest growth, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, released on Wednesday.

The number of workers in Florida increased by 361,000 between December 2021 and December 2022.

The leisure and hospitality sector, which was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, witnessed the most significant gains from December 2021 to December 2022. Education, health services, trade, transportation, and utilities recorded the second biggest number of job openings.

Blue-collar jobs were on the rise across the economy. And their office counterparts, white-collar jobs, were trending down.

What do you think about the latest unemployment statistics?

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