The Treasure Coast’s annual summer employment dip continued in June with St. Lucie County going to a 4.3 percent not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate, up from 3.8 percent in May.
“We’re in the traditional summer pattern,” said Tonya Woodworth, communications manager at CareerSource Research Coast.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity released its June employment report on July 19. While the unemployment rate was up in June from the month before, it was down from June 2018; that month the not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in St. Lucie was 4.8 percent.
The county started 2019 with a 4.7 percent not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in January. By February it had inched down to 4.2. Then in March the unemployment rate dipped to 3.9 percent. April had the best number so far this year – a 3.5 percent unemployment rate.
The Port St. Lucie Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of St. Lucie and Martin counties, has had strong jobs numbers from June to June, 2018 to 2019. This June the area accounted for 154,200 jobs, an increase of 4,800 jobs for the year. The only sector that lost jobs in June 2019 compared to June 2018 was information. In the same comparison, the trade, transportation and utilities sector went unchanged in job numbers.
All other sectors picked up jobs. For example, professional and business services gained 1,300 between the two compared months. Mining, logging and construction gained 1,200. Education and health services, and leisure and hospitality both gained 700. Manufacturing gained 400 jobs, while government gained 300 and financial activities 200. Other services, which include things such as auto mechanics, washed out the loss of 100 information jobs with an equal gain.
A lot of the June-to-June gains are in industries that don’t require college degrees. That’s something CareerSource Research Coast and others see.
“We are focusing on our pre-apprentice and apprenticeship programs,” Woodworth said.
The state has rolled out a new website, www.apprenticeflorida.com. Apprentice Florida is a partnership between the Florida Department of Education, CareerSource Florida and the economic opportunity department to help businesses and workers come together for apprenticing programs.
“We pushed higher education, college, degrees for several decades,” Woodworth said. “Now we’re taking a step back and encouraging students to evaluate what success looks like (to them).”
Some youths simply are more interested in hands-on work, such as in manufacturing, than degreed work. In May, the CareerSource Florida board of directors set aside $1.75 million from its $249.4 million annual budget for its apprenticeship programs expansion. The fiscal year started on July 1.
Woodworth said employers who would like to learn more will see a portal for them at the Apprentice Florida website. Apprenticeship seekers have a separate portal.
In June the state’s not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, while the nation’s was 3.8.
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.
