Florida unemployment rate ticks up in November to 3.4%

Florida’s general monthly unemployment rate for November rose for the first time since April.

The jobless figure had held steady at 3.3% for seven months straight. But November snapped that streak with an unemployment rate of 3.4%, an increase of 0.1%, according to FloridaCommerce figures released this month.

Even with the slight rate increase, state officials said Florida added 60,100 private-sector jobs in November “surpassing pre-hurricane levels and demonstrating the state’s resilience in recovering from the impacts of Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton,” a news release said.

Helene and Milton hit the state jobs market particularly hard. After Helene hit Sept. 26, weekly jobless claims skyrocketed past 8,000 for the first time this year. Then after Milton initially struck the Gulf Coast Oct. 9 before crossing the peninsula and exiting into the Atlantic Ocean Oct. 10, initial jobless figures jumped past 10,000 and took three weeks to come back down below 8,000. But the end of the month saw a rebound when retailers in the state underwent a hiring frenzy to prepare for the Black Friday holiday shopping season around Thanksgiving Day.

“Under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decisive leadership, Florida’s quick bounce-back is evidence of Florida’s commitment to recovery,” said Florida Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly. “This effort — from opening roads and bridges, to getting utilities back on and schools back open along with putting resources and opportunities into communities immediately after the storms — helped keep Florida’s businesses open and employees on payroll.”

Florida’s unemployment rate has remained lower than the national figure for 49 straight months. The national jobless rate now stands at 4.2%.

The Miami-Dade metropolitan area scored the lowest monthly unemployment rate for any geographic area in the state in November. Miami registered a 2.4% jobless figure for the month.  While a notably low figure compared to other areas of the state, Miami saw a 0.9% increase from the rate from November 2023 which was 1.5%.

No other metro market in Florida scored an unemployment rate below 3% in November. Fort Lauderdale had the next lowest jobless rate at 3.4%, matching to state level. Fort Lauderdale’s figure was also an increase from November 2023 which was 3%.

The highest unemployment rate in the state was in the Tampa area, which posted a November jobless figure of 3.8%. That’s a notable increase of 0.7% from November last year which posted a  3.1% jobless rate.

Other markets and jobless rates for last month include: West Palm Beach at 3.6%; Naples at 3.5%, Fort Myers at 3.7%; Pensacola at 3.7%; Orlando at 3.5%; and Jacksonville at 3.6%.