Unemployment rate falls to 3.2% in Florida

TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s unemployment rate dipped to 3.2% in March, as workers shifted away from gigs at hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues for higher-paying jobs in manufacturing, warehousing and logistics.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity released a report Friday that said the March jobless rate was down from 3.3% in February.

Continued decreases in the rate come despite employers reportedly struggling to retain workers.

For metro Orlando, the rate was even lower, falling to 2.9%, down from 3.4% in February.

The state has seen a shift in where people are finding work, with professional and business-services sectors topping the list for job gains in the monthly report, while the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes the tourism industry, had the largest decline with 5,500 fewer jobs than in February, the report said.

“The combination of [a] falling unemployment rate and a growing labor force is a very good sign for Florida’s economy,” Adrienne Johnston, the department’s chief economist, said in a conference call. “This means that more and more Floridians continue to enter the job market and they’re able to find work on a consistent basis.”

Johnston added that as people appear more optimistic about finding work if they leave their current jobs, conversations among economists have returned to pre-pandemic discussions about a “tight labor market.”

“We’re having those conversations that we were having two or three years ago, where all businesses, all industries in our state are growing,” Johnston said. “They’re competing for qualified talent and they’re having to find ways to compete. And that in some cases includes raising wages, it includes finding other ways to incentivize their employees.”

The March unemployment rate, which was down from

5.4% a year earlier, represented an estimated 339,000 Floridians from a labor force of 10.51 million.

The national jobless rate in March was 3.6%, down from

3.8% in February.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday that Florida was among 37 states where the unemployment rate dropped from February to March, with the rate holding steady in the other 13 states and the District of Columbia.

“Over the last year, the unemployment rate dropped in every state, and many states have reached historic lows,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “These aren’t just numbers on a page: These are millions of Americans back at work and able to support themselves and their families with good-paying jobs and enjoy the dignity a job provides.”