by: CHUCK LAROSE, Staff Writer, Charlotte Sun Updated:
Charlotte, Florida —
The area's unemployment rate took a step back in January, but the overall job market remains healthier than a year ago.
In Charlotte County, the unemployment rate increased to 5.6 percent in January, up from 5.1 the previous month. Despite the month-to-month increase, the current unemployment number remains an improvement over the 6.5 percent jobless rate of January 2015. The county figures, released by the Florida Department of Economic Development on Monday, are not seasonally adjusted.
“Big picture, Charlotte County and Southwest Florida has shown tremendous progress during the past year, and a one month report does not change that,” said Dr. Christopher Westley, Florida Gulf Coast University Regional Economic Research Institute director. “If (an increasing unemployment rate) was a trend that continued, we may want to take a closer look, but this is one data cycle and no reason for concern.”
DeSoto County mirrored Charlotte's jobless rate at 5.6 percent, a slight increase from 5.3 percent in December. Similarly, the county's January figures are nearly one percentage point better than the 6.5 percent unemployment rate reported last January.
Even Sarasota County, which had posted a healthy 4.3 percent unemployment rate in December, saw an uptick to 4.8 percent in January. Despite the setback, the current figure is a welcomed improvement compared to the county's 5.6 percent unemployment rate of a year ago.
“The annual numbers show that the region is doing well,” said Westley, noting that an increase in unemployment numbers from December to January is not uncommon. “It may have something to do with the holidays. Another thing to consider, especially in Charlotte County where the population has increased 1.6 percent in the last year, is that people moving into the area can increase the labor force and that in turn can increase unemployment statistics.”
Annual numbers for the Southwest Florida's three metropolitan statistical areas, which combine the numbers of several counties, confirm that the region is making progress.
The area boasting the fastest annual job growth rate of any MSA statewide was Sarasota-North Port-Bradenton. Over the past 12 months, job growth in the area is up 5.9 percent with jobs related to information (5.9 percent), manufacturing (5.7 percent) and education (4.3 percent) reporting the biggest gains.
The Punta Gorda MSA, which includes Charlotte County, has seen an 11.1 percent increase in jobs related to transportation, warehousing and utilities during that past year.
Bucking the trend among area counties, Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January dropped slightly to 5 percent, down from the December 2015 rate of 5.1 percent. That also was a notable improvement compared to the statewide jobless rate of 5.7 percent in January 2015. The Sunshine State remains on par with the nationwide unemployment rate which sits at 4.9 percent.
The state's nonagricultural employment rate, also seasonally adjusted, saw a 0.4 percent increase from December to January and has increased 3.3 percent during the past year.
Monday's report marks the 66th consecutive month that Florida has reported positive job growth, with the most jobs being added in the areas of professional and business services, and hospitality.
No comments:
Post a Comment