St. Lucie County’s unemployment rate just keeps dropping this year.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity released its April jobs report last Friday. The department reported St. Lucie’s not-seasonally-adjusted non-agricultural employment hit 3.5 percent last month.
St. Lucie County launched 2019 with a not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 4.7 percent, up from 3.9 percent in December last year. That seemingly sharp increase in unemployment is attributed to the end of the holiday seasonal hiring in fall. But St. Lucie’s employers quickly hired up those workers.
Come February, St. Lucie County dropped to 4.2 percent not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment. By March the not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 3.9 percent – same as it was in December.
The April unemployment rate was down from 4.2 the year before, too.
Taken together, St. Lucie and Martin counties form the Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area. The counties had about 157,300 jobs in April, up by about 5,600 from the year before, a 3.7 percent increase.
The area had the fastest annual growth rate – April to April – in the state in professional and business services, up 10.6 percent, and financial activities, up 7.4 percent. It also had the second fastest annual job growth rate in the state in mining, logging and construction.
The professional and business services sector added about 2,000 jobs from April to April. Mining, logging and construction added about 1,400. Education and health services was another sector with strong gains – about 800 jobs. The manufacturing and the leisure and hospitality sectors both added about 500 jobs on the year. Financial activities added about 400 jobs.
There were also employment gains in government, about 200 jobs, and other services, which includes jobs such as mechanics, with 100.
Counting from April to April, the trade, transportation and utilities sector shed about 300 jobs.
Florida’s not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in April was 2.9 percent. With seasonal adjustment – a statistical tool to account for normal seasonal employment variations – it was 3.4. The state added about 206,100 jobs from April to April, a 2.4 percent increase.
The Treasure Coast traditionally sheds some jobs during the summer months. The economy picks up again in fall. That traditional dip may be seen in May’s employment numbers.
The national and state unemployment rates are calculated using a variety of methods. Among them are telephone interviews with workers. Those that are able to work and report not having jobs, but looked for employment in the previous 30 days, are counted as unemployed. Discouraged workers – those who are able to work and want jobs, but have not sought employment in the previous 30 days – are not counted in the unemployment figure. Many call this “shadow unemployment,” and it’s inherently difficult to track due to variations for why people don’t seek jobs.
