Unemployment in Florida dropped slightly in February according to state data released Friday. Southwest Florida experienced similar reductions in the jobless rate.
The state’s unemployment rate in February dropped 0.1 percent to 5.6 percent. That’s lower than the national unemployment rate of 5.8 percent and down nearly a full percentage point from February of 2014.
Lee County’s unemployment rate went down to 5.2 percent, Collier County’s jobless rate stood at 5 percent. Charlotte County went down to 6.1 percent and Sarasota County saw a reduction to 5.3 percent.
Hendry and Glades Counties had slightly higher unemployment rates at 7.8 and 6.3 percent respectively, but that’s normal according to CareerSource Southwest Florida Communications Director Jim Wall.
“The more inland counties are heavily dependent on agriculture, although there’s some exciting news about some inland port areas that we may hear soon that could be a real game changer for that area.”
Wall said the challenge for Southwest Florida is the region’s heavy reliance on seasonal jobs in the tourism industry which tend to dwindle in the summer months. However, that could be changing. “More and more employers are using seasonal employment almost as a screening process because they do not want to lose the person that is that diamond in the ruff knowing full well they probably won’t be able to rehire them in the fall,” said Wall. “And we’re starting to get to be more and more of a year round employment type of an area.”
Job sectors experiencing the greatest growth include private education, professional services, construction, health care and manufacturing. Governor Rick Scott announced the February employment data in Collier County as the Naples metro area saw the largest job growth by percent.
Wall said despite the good news, stagnant wages remain a concern. “Those of us who have been down here for a while worry about affordable housing or employee housing, so we have to keep an eye on the housing costs and I look to see that the wages start to increase later this year or at the end of the quarter of this year.”
