Hurricane Irma took a bite out of Florida job count, new report says

ORLANDO, Fla.—Florida lost about 127,000 jobs in September, largely due to Hurricane Irma’s strike, according to state data released Friday.

Jobs in Florida normally subside temporarily in the fall, as the summer vacation season winds down, but the state said Irma’s impact was clear in the data. The storm hit the Florida Keys on Sept. 10 and traveled up the peninsula on Sept. 11. “Employees who are not paid for the pay period that includes Sept. 12 are not counted as employed. … The job counts for the month of September are showing a sharp over-the-month decline due to the impact of Hurricane Irma,” the state’s announcement said. “The jobs report has Irma written all over it,” said Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida. “The state level data is seasonally adjusted so what we are seeing really is driven by the impact of the hurricane.” He noted the biggest losses were in leisure and hospitality and the biggest gains in employment were finance and insurance; but he said October should show a rebound. Some people weren’t notified of a permanent layoff due to Irma until the end of September, such as 206 people who worked at the damaged Pirate’s Dinner Adventure in the International Drive area. A large part of the roof was blown off completely in the storm. Their layoff notice was dated Sept. 27. The management team for Pirate’s told the Sentinel at that time they hope to rehire those employees as they close indefinitely to deal with attorneys, their insurance company and construction companies. They must replace the entire roof. “We want to open as quick as we can,” assistant general manager Daniel Latorre said. “It could be two months. … It could be eight months.” The unemployment rate released Friday, however, didn’t reflect Irma’s impact. The state unemployment rate— which is seasonally adjusted—was 3.8 percent in September, down twotenths of a percent from August, and down from 4.9 percent compared to a year ago. Unemployment in the Orlando metro region clocked in at a very low 3.2 percent, the lowest rate in ten years, although that was not yet adjusted for seasonal ups and downs. That rate compares to 3.8 percent in August and 4.7 percent a year ago. The Orlando metro showed the biggest job gains in the state (24,900 jobs added, up 2.0 percent), followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (17,300 jobs, up 1.3 percent); and Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach (13,000 jobs, up 1.6 percent).