Job growth

Unemployment rates fall again

Florida’s jobs market tightened further in February, as unemployment rates for the tricounty region dropped.

South Florida’s jobs market tightened further in February, as unemployment rates for the tricounty region dropped below yearago rates.

The February rate was 3.5 percent in Broward County, 3.7 percent in Palm Beach County and 4.7 percent in Miami-Dade County, according to data released Friday by Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.

A year ago, unemployment rates in February were 4.2 percent in Broward, 4.3 percent in Palm Beach County and 4.8 percent in Miami-Dade.

Sean Snaith, an economist at University of Central Florida, said he expects growth of jobs and the overall economy to last another couple years, thanks to momentum from continued population growth, the Trump administration’s tax cuts, and untapped capacity of workers who dropped out of the labor force during the decade after the Great Recession.

“There’s still labor that’s available,” he said. “People are on the sidelines who can be pulled back in.”

Wage inflation hasn’t reached the 3.5 percent annual rate that traditionally triggers concerns about rising costs and causes investors to start pulling back, he said

Broward added 9,800 jobs over the year, including 4,100 in professional and business services; followed by 2,300 in construction; 1,500 in trade, transportation and utilities; 700 in leisure and hospitality; 700 in other services; 600 in manufacturing; and 500 in government.

The county lost 400 jobs in financial activities and 300 jobs in wholesale trade over the year.

Palm Beach County’s net job growth over the year was 3,300. Sectors that added jobs included construction (3,000); leisure and hospitality (1,900); and professional and business services (1,200).

Growth rates in the construction sector (8.5 percent) and leisure and hospitality sector (2.1 percent) exceeded statewide averages, the department’s data indicates.

Meanwhile, 2,700 jobs were lost in education and health services, and 800 were lost in the information sector.

Miami-Dade County added 17,500 jobs in February compared with February 2017. Largest job gains were in professional and business services (5,800); education and health services (4,900); and construction (3,700).