(May 24, 2022) — The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has announced that the unemployment rate for the Jacksonville region declined from 2.5 percent in March to 2.3 percent in April.
Of the 846,810 people counted as part of the area’s workforce in April, there were 19,194 unemployed residents – down from 21,206 unemployed residents in March.
“April marked the third consecutive month the unemployment figure was lower than the rates we saw before the pandemic began, and the first time the number of unemployed residents dipped below 20,000 in our region,” said CareerSource Northeast Florida President Bruce Ferguson. “Also, for a third consecutive month, unemployment dropped in all counties in the region compared to the previous month.”
According to DEO’s March report, St. Johns County continued to have the lowest unemployment rate in Northeast Florida (1.7 percent) – followed by Nassau County (1.9 percent), Clay County (2.0 percent), Baker County (2.1 percent), Duval County (2.4 percent) and Putnam County (3.6 percent).
“The numbers show that our region continues to have the strongest year-to-date increase in job growth within the professional and business services category (up 12.3 percent) compared to April of last year – representing more than 14,000 jobs,” Ferguson said. “Also, our leisure and hospitality industry has rebounded nicely over the last 12 months, up 12.1 percent compared to last April, representing 9,500 new jobs and the second-highest industry sector growth in Northeast Florida.”