The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has announced that the unemployment rate for the Jacksonville region dipped slightly from 3.0 percent in June to 2.9 percent in July.
Of the 865,485 people counted as part of the area’s workforce in July, there were 24,874 unemployed residents – down from 25,695 unemployed residents in June.
Regional Employment Update
“All industries are still facing challenges in filling positions, and we are continuing to assist employers to fill open positions in our region,” said CareerSource Northeast Florida (CareerSource NEFL) President Bruce Ferguson. “From assisting employers in establishing apprenticeship programs to hosting virtual regional job fairs and in-person employer events at our career centers, we continue to find new methods to connect job seekers with our partner employers.”
According to DEO’s July report, St. Johns County continued to have the lowest unemployment rate in Northeast Florida (2.2 percent), which is the second-lowest county number in the state – followed by Nassau County (2.4 percent), Clay County (2.6 percent), Baker County (2.8 percent), Duval County (3.1 percent) and Putnam County (4.2 percent).
“The Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) continues to hold the fastest annual job growth rate in professional and business services (up 16.1 percent, representing 18,400 jobs) over the last year, and we’ve also seen our total employment increase by 32,700 jobs regionally compared to a year ago,” Ferguson said.
The top-five most advertised job occupations among all industries in the region in July included registered nurses (5,676 positions), retail sales workers (5,116 positions), first-line supervisors of retail salespersons (5,073 positions), stockers/order fillers (4,304 positions) and customer service personnel (3,549 positions).
In July, CareerSource NEFL received more than 2,800 open job positions from its partner-employers.
CareerSource NEFL will hold its next Virtual Regional Job Fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, and Amazon and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority will also be holding in-person job fairs at career centers next month.
For more information about these and other job workshops and employer recruitment events, visit the events page at https://careersourcenortheastflorida.com/events/.
For those looking for a job, CareerSource NEFL can connect them with employers that are hiring now and also offers assessments and training to help them gain the skills needed to put them on a new career track. To learn how CareerSource NEFL can help secure that next career, visit www.careersourcenefl.com or call 904-356-JOBS (5627).
Job seekers are encouraged to visit www.careersourcenefl.com, where they can schedule a virtual appointment – or schedule one at their nearest career center location. They can also schedule an appointment by phone at (904) 356-JOBS (5627).
CareerSource NEFL is responsible for providing a trained workforce to businesses in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties. For more information, visit www.careersourcenefl.com.