Jacksonville’s unemployment rate fell in September as job growth picked up, the Florida Department of Commerce reported Oct. 20.
The jobless rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties fell from 3.2% in August to 3% in September.
Duval County’s unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 3.1%, and the other four counties in the metro area had lower rates.
St. Johns County’s 2.7% rate was tied for third-lowest among Florida’s 67 counties behind Miami-Dade, at 1.5%, and Monroe at 2%.
Clay County was at 2.9% while Baker and Nassau were both at 3%.
The Department of Commerce’s survey of nonagricultural businesses found Jacksonville-area employers added 30,500 jobs to their payrolls from September 2022 through September 2023, a 3.9% growth rate.
That’s up from the 3.6% growth rate in August.
Almost every industry sector in Northeast Florida has added jobs. The one exception is the information sector, which had a net loss of 400 in the 12-month period, or 2.9%.
The biggest job gains came in private education and health services, which rose by 6,500, or 5.5%.
On a percentage basis, the largest gains came in leisure and hospitality at 6.2%, after the sector added 5,400 jobs in the 12 months.
Other big gains came in professional and business services, up 5,300 or 4.2%, and financial activities, up 4,300 or 5.8%.
Jacksonville’s job growth was higher than Florida’s statewide growth rate of 2.5%.
The statewide unemployment rate rose by 0.1 point to a seasonally adjusted 2.8% in September.
The Department of Commerce does not adjust local area unemployment rates in its monthly reports. Before the seasonal adjustment, Florida’s statewide jobless rate was 3% in September