Flagler County’s unemployment rate rose for the third straight month and hasn’t declined since March, reaching 5.4 percent in August, the highest unemployment rate since June 2021, when it was 5.4 percent. Palm Coast’s unemployment was also 5.4 percent in August, according to figures released by the state’s Commerce Department Friday.
The unemployment rate declined in the county even though the labor force declined a little, to just under 56,000. Employment declined by almost 300, while the ranks of the unemployed in the county rose to 3,022. The last time that many Flagler County residents were without a job goes back to five years, to September 2020, when the country was emerging from the Covid recession. But the county has added some 20,000 residents since, and the labor force has grown by about 12,000 since.
Still, the trend has been negative, with the county’s unemployment rate averaging 4.6 percent this year, compared to 4 percent last year, 3.6 percent in 2023, and 3.4 percent in 2022.
Florida’s unemployment rate also inched up, to 3.8 percent in August, after holding steady at 3.7 percent since April.
The August rate represented 424,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed, up 7,000 from July. The civilian labor force in August of 11.196 million was unchanged from a month earlier. The unemployment rate in August 2024 was 3.4 percent.
A person qualifies as unemployed as long as the person is collecting unemployment and abiding by the state’s rigorous rules to do so. The unemployment term is just 12 weeks, for checks that top off at $275 a week, resulting in the stingiest unemployment benefit in the country. Some states provide less money, but longer time spans.
The unemployment increase in Flagler County preceded the announcement by Boston Whaler, the county’s largest manufacturing employer, that it would be shutting down the plant off Colbert Lane over the next few months, and offering its 300 employees to work in Edgewater, in Volusia County. The unemployment figure will only reflect a loss if those employees opt to collect unemployment. Every employee who chooses to work in Edgewater but continues to live in Flagler County will be considered employed as far as Flagler County’s employment numbers are concerned. Those numbers don’t necessarily reflect jobs in Flagler County, but jobholders living in the county, including commuters and telecommuters.
Jimmy Heckman, the Department of Commerce’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, said last month’s rate increase was tied to people searching for work after entering or reentering the labor force. But that doesn’t necessarily apply in Flagler County since the labor force declined.
“The number of people that say that they’re unemployed because they lost their jobs is actually down as a share of the number of unemployed people in the state,” Heckman said in a conference call with reporters–again, a condition that does not apply to Flagler County.
He said numbers indicate businesses are hiring at a slower rate.
“We don’t think that the rise in unemployment is a story of people actually losing their jobs,” Heckman said. “A rise in the unemployment rate might mean that it’s taking a slightly longer time for people who are entering the labor force to find a job.”
The report showed private-sector employment decreased by 4,200 jobs in August, after also decreasing in June and July.
Employment was up by 85,400 private-sector jobs from August 2024.
Friday’s report came after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point amid concerns about the health of the nation’s jobs market.
Florida saw a 3,600-job gain in August in employment in the construction industry, while manufacturing had a 1,700-job increase, according to the Department of Commerce report. The state, however, had decreases in the categories such as leisure and hospitality, which had a 5,500-job drop.
Across the state, the lowest unemployment rate in August remained in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area at 3.7 percent, up from 3.4 percent in July. Within that region, the rate in the Miami-Miami-Beach-Kendall area was at 2.9 percent.
The next-lowest August rate was 4.2 percent in the Crestview-Fort-Walton Beach-Destin metropolitan area, followed by the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford area at 4.3 percent and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region at 4.4 percent.
The Panama City-Panama City Beach area was at 4.5 percent. The Jacksonville area was at 4.6 percent. The Tallahassee, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent areas were at 4.7 percent. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Naples-Marco Island and North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota areas were at 4.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the Port St. Lucie area was at 5 percent, and the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach and Gainesville areas were at 5.1 percent.
The highest rate in the state was 7.6 percent in the metropolitan statistical area that includes The Villages and Wildwood. The region was at 7.1 percent in July.
The Homosassa Springs area was at 6.6 percent, the Sebring area was at 6.5 percent, the Punta Gorda and Sebastian-Vero Beach areas were at 5.6 percent. The Ocala area was at 5.5 percent and the Lakeland-Winter Haven region stood at 5.4 percent.
The statewide rate is seasonally adjusted, while the metro rates are not adjusted.
–FlaglerLive and Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
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