May was not a particularly bright month in Florida’s or Flagler County’s economies. Unemployment ticked up a decimal point in the state, to 5.7 percent, close to where it has been mired since the end of 2014, and 28,000 fewer Floridians held jobs in May, compared to April. But that’s largely because Florida’s workforce surged by 72,000, a reflection of new graduates entering the job market, as well as a reflection of job entrants’ confidence to look for work.
In Flagler unemployment went up to 6.6 percent, from 6.2 percent the month before, despite a net gain of 220 people holding jobs. Again, the reason the unemployment rate went up is because of the growing workforce. Flagler’s workforce added 412 workers in May, for a total of 43,112. The number of people without work also grew, however, by about 200 people.
But the last 12 months’ trend is still more positive than negative in Flagler: the unemployment rate when down seven of those 12 months, and the net gain is still sharply, evident, with an unemployment rate a full 2 percentage points below where it was a year ago. The clounty is 13th from the top when it comes to counties with the highest unemployment rate, with Hendry leading the way at 8.6 percent, followed by Citrus (7.7) and Putnam (7.6). At the opposite end, the counties with the lowest unemployment rate are led by Monroe, at 3.8 percent, followed by St. Johns, at 4 percent. Volusia County has an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent.
Florida Unemployment Report, May 2015
Brad W says
This is an interesting report when you actually look at it, but I know most people like to look at the percentage and rush to judgement. We’re not in that bad of shape at all. We’re at 6.6% which equates to about 2,800 people unemployed. Now Duval, for example, is at 5.9% so they must be in better shape than us right? Wrong, they have over 27,000 unemployed.
What bothers me with the local economy discussions is that no one takes the time to look into the numbers in detail. Where is the unemployment in the County? We have 4 Cities here. Who is unemployed? What’s the average age and skill set? So forth and so on. Everyone jumps on the bandwagon of “we need to bring this and that here” thinking it will answer employment, whereas time and time again throughout the Country communities are doing just that and those employers are hiring outside the community they came into and the employment issue was not solved. I think we are bedroom community with a strong tourism (sports, eco, vacations, etc.) economy and that where our focus should be. We are also a community that is growing and have great opportunities in the construction and related sectors as you said. We’re going to have a sprinkling of all of the other industries that naturally serve residents and the businesses within our economic makeup. And as you eluded to, employment isn’t about the jobs coming to you . . . it’s about the person going to the jobs.