Employment on the Treasure Coast held strong in February, which makes having a trained workforce all the more important.
“We do have Summer of Success coming up,” said Tonya Woodworth, communications manager at CareerSource Research Cost. “We’ve started taking applications.”
Summer of Success is a combined classroom and paid internship program that will start on June 10 and continue for six weeks. It’s open to St. Lucie youth ages 16 to 21. The program is open to 120 participants, who must apply online. Woodworth said applications must be done by April 15.
“We highly encourage (youths) to explore the Summer of Success program, because it provides them with the skillset to find employment after graduation,” she said.
The six-week paid internship pays $9 an hour for 32 hours a week.
(More information and the application is at www.careersourcerc.com/youth/summer-of-success.)
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity recently reported that in February the non-agricultural not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in St. Lucie County dropped to 4.2 percent from 4.7 percent in January. The rate was also 4.7 percent in February last year.
“The unemployment rate is on a steady decline since 2010,” Woodworth said.
St. Lucie and Martin counties form the Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area, MSA. The area had 155,100 jobs in February, up 4,400 from the year before. In February it had the second fastest annual job growth rate in Florida in mining, logging and construction from the previous February. That industry sector had a 12.8 percent increase in jobs, 1,400, from February to February.
Other sectors that added jobs were professional and business services with 1,300. Education and health services added 700. Manufacturing followed with an added 500 jobs. Leisure and hospitality put on 400 jobs. Other sectors with gains from February to February were financial activities and government along with other services, which include positions such as automobile mechanics. The trade, transportation and utilities sector reportedly shed jobs, while information stayed unchanged.
St. Lucie’s drop in not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment from January to February matched the state and nation. The state checked in with a 3.4 percent rate, which was lower than the nation’s, 4.1 percent. Florida dropped from 3.9 percent in January. The nation dropped from 4.4 percent in January.
