Florida’s private-sector job count falls

Employment down by 20% over last year

Florida added 16,200 private-sector jobs in September, but that was a 20 percent decrease from the 20,328 added a year ago, payroll firm ADP said Wednesday.

The decline was unsurprising since last month was when Hurricane Irma swept through Florida, knocking out power to millions of businesses. Nearly 90 percent of Florida Power & Light Co.’s customers lost power during Irma. The utility provides electricity to South Florida and half the state.

Nonetheless, the largest number of job additions came in trade, transportation and utilities, with a combined 3,400 positions filled.

“That may be reflecting storm prep,” said Sean Snaith, economist for the University of Central Florida. Retailers were working hard to get supplies and groceries into stores before the storm, for example.

Snaith didn’t read much into the lower job creation number for Florida.

“The hurricane is going to have some short-run im-