Hospitality fuels Orlando jobs while state jobless rate hits 10-year low

Florida’s unemployment rate hit a 10-year low in October, at 3.6 percent, the lowest jobless rate since February 2007.

Metro Orlando clocked in 3.2 percent unemployment, down from 4.5 percent a year ago. The October jobless rate for Orlando was listed as flat compared to September, but it was not yet adjusted for seasonal fluctuations because of school starting and drop-offs in summer tourism.

The impact of Hurricane Irma on the number of jobs in the state, which had showed up in the September report, apparently is already gone. The October total for the state’s non-farm jobs was 8.66 million, up from the September level of 8.49 million. Universal Orlando alone held a job fair for 3,000 openings in October. Orlando continued to add the highest number of new jobs in the state, at 37,400 new private-sector jobs over 12 months.

The lower-paying hospitality sector led the way in Orlando with 8,300 new jobs, followed closely by professional and business services with 8,200 new jobs.

Orlando also added more financial jobs and manufacturing jobs than any other metro area in Florida, at 5,200 jobs and 4,900 jobs respectively.

According to the Associated General Contractors of America, Florida added the second largest number of construction jobs over the past 12 months, at 35,600 jobs, up 7.4 percent, just behind California.

Florida also added more construction jobs than any other state over the past month: 23,800 jobs, 4.8 percent. Local counties saw little change in their unemployment rates since September: Orange County was at 3.1 percent; Lake County, 3.4 percent; Osceola County, 3.6 percent; and Seminole County, 3 percent.

In the last year, 216,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 2.2 percent. This rate is more than four times the national labor force growth rate of only 0.5 percent.

It is anticipated that the labor force will grow in the coming months as evacuees from the hurricane crisis in Puerto Rico switch their official residences, many to Orlando.