Jacksonville’s unemployment rate ticked up in October and job growth slowed a bit, but the overall trend in the area’s labor market remained positive.
The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area – consisting of Duval, Baker, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties – rose from 4.6 percent in September to 4.7 percent in October, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday.
The state agency does not adjust the data for seasonal factors but when the rate is seasonally adjusted, it still shows a slight increase from 4.72 percent to 4.85 percent last month, the University of North Florida’s Local Economic Indicators Project reported.
“Usually in the Jacksonville MSA you expect the rate in October to continue to slide a little bit,” said UNF economist Albert Loh.
However, the area’s unemployment rate has remained at or below 5 percent throughout 2016, so the trend has been good.
“The increase (in October) is not too much of a concern,” Loh said.
Duval County’s unemployment rate was unchanged in October at 4.9 percent without seasonal adjustment, the Department of Economic Opportunity said. But LEIP said after adjustment, it actually dropped from 5.17 percent in September to 4.98 percent last month.
St. Johns County’s unadjusted unemployment rate edged up by 0.1-point to 3.8 percent last month, but it continued to have the second-lowest rate in the state behind Monroe County’s 3.3 percent.
Florida’s statewide unemployment also rose by 0.1-point to a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent in October, the Department of Economic Opportunity said.
Jacksonville area non-farm businesses reported a 3.7 percent growth in their payrolls from October 2015 through October 2016, lower than September’s 12-month growth rate of 4.6 percent. However, Jacksonville’s growth rate was stronger than Florida’s statewide job increase of 3.1 percent over the last 12 months.
Northeast Florida’s 3.7 percent growth translated into a net gain of 24,500 jobs.
The construction industry continued to lead the way in the Jacksonville area with a 10.6 percent growth rate in the 12-month period.
Also continuing a trend, the information sector is the only major industry losing jobs with a decline of 3.3 percent in the past year. That’s also a statewide trend, where Florida’s information sector has dropped by 1.8 percent.