The unemployment rate for Florida fell from 4.9 percent in November to 4.7 percent in December without seasonal adjustments. But the volatile entertainment sector also posted a drop of 3,000 jobs, despite increased film tax credits from the state. That’s the lowest it’s been in the month of December since 2006 when it was at 4.6 percent. The sectors with the greatest gains were education and health services, professional and business services, and construction.
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The change was driven mainly by 8,700 farmworker layoffs, a almost 14 percent month-to-month decline that brought local agricultural employment down to about half a percent below its level a year earlier. Trade, transportation, utilities and leisure and hospitality showed gains, but it wasn’t enough to offset the jobs lost.
Department spokesman Benjamin Johnson says the unemployment rate increased because Ohio’s labor force grew. New claims totaled 47,858 in December 2014.
In Palm Beach County, the West Palm Beach-Delray Beach-Boca Raton metro area was among the two tops in the state in adding government jobs, 1,100.
The unemployment rate in Miami-Dade County ticked up for the third straight month.
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Monroe County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate (3.2 percent), followed by St. Johns County (3.5 percent) and Alachua and Wakulla counties (4.0 percent each). That’s compared to a national average of 10.8 percent.
