S. Florida’s jobless rate still falling

Unemployment fell even lower in November in South Florida, the state reported on Friday, but job creation was a mixed bag.

October’s job count had shown recovery from Hurricane Irma in September, according to Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity. But Sean Snaith, economist for the University of Central Florida in Orlando, said he thinks there’s still “a bit of post-Irma shakeup in the data.”

Overall, however, the state and tricounty region are returning to the job growth rate it had before the hurricane, he said.

“Job growth is slowing, but remains above the national growth rate of job creation,” Snaith said. “We could see a boost in 2018 from the tax law. Construction is going to continue to outperform — that was the case before the hurricane.”

Congress this week passed the Republican-led rewrite of the tax code, chopping corporate taxes and temporarily lowering individual taxes. President Donald Trump signed the bill Friday before leaving for the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.

Broward County’s unemployment in November fell to 3.6 percent, 0.2 percentage point below the state rate of 3.8 percent, and down from 4.6 percent a year ago. Broward had the fastest annual job growth in the state in education and health services.

The county added 22,100 jobs, an increase of 2.6 percent over the year.

Since November 2016, Broward has added the most jobs, 7,400 in education, followed by 4,200, in construction, 2,600 in other services, 2,400 in business and professional services, 2,000 in government, 1,900 in financial activities, 1,000 in manufacturing, 400 in leisure and hospitality, information.

Trade, transportation and utilities, a category that includes retail jobs, lost 100 jobs over the year.

Palm Beach County’s unemployment dropped to 3.8 percent in November, down from 4.7 percent a year ago. The county’s fastestgrowing jobs over the year were in construction and government.

The county added 2,800 jobs, up 0.4 percent from a year ago, including 3,500 in construction, 1,600 in government, 600 in other services, 400 in leisure and hospitality, 100 in manufacturing, and 100 in information. and 300 in

Palm Beach County lost 1,600 jobs over the year in trade, transportation and utilities, a category that includes retail jobs; 800 jobs in financial activities; 700 in business and professional services; and 700 in education and health services.

Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in November, compared with 5 percent a year ago.

The county added 27,100 jobs, an increase of 2.3 percent over the year.

Florida’s unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in November, down from 4.8 percent. The state remains below the U.S. rate of 4.1 percent.