The Treasure Coast is on an employment cruise control. This year it’s been trending with small, predicable up-and-down unemployment bumps. Last month was a down one.
“As expected with the summer months, employers slow down hiring in July,” said Marcelo Dossantos, vice president of strategic development at CareerSource Research Coast.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity released its July employment report on Friday, Aug. 17. St. Lucie County checked in with a 5.1 percent not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate, which was above the state’s 4 percent not-seasonally-adjusted rate. “Most of the jobs shed in July are professional business services,” Dossantos explained.
In other words, call-center jobs. The county has shed 400 of those jobs over the last year, and the summer months are the slowest for area call centers, Dossantos said. Nevertheless, the county has about 145,000 jobs, which is a 1.4 percent increase over the year. That’s about 2,000 new jobs in the county over the last year.
The largest gains were in the trade, transportation and utilities sector – 800 new jobs. Leisure and hospitality followed with 700. Education and health services took the bronze with 500 added jobs in St. Lucie.
Florida’s unemployment rate is the lowest that it has been in more than a decade. The seasonally-adjusted state unemployment rate in July was 3.7 percent. The nation’s was 3.9 percent. The state has gained about 210,600 jobs over the last year, a 2.5 percent increase.
Dossantos said barring for extraordinary events, St. Lucie’s common summer jobs slump should be close to ending. He said not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates will fall below the 5 percent line. “Come fall, I think we’ll see it in the 4 (percent range), or high 3,” he said.
There is a rub to the positive numbers.
“One thing we’ve noticed is the labor market is tight, so the employers are casting a wider net,” Dossantos said. That signals a shrinking available labor pool, which can slow the growth of new businesses. If workers aren’t available, companies can’t throw up shingles.
Dossantos said CareerSource Research Coast is working with local school districts and will, in coming months, host the inaugural Treasure Coast State of Jobs Conference.
The aim is to convince high school youths that opportunity is at their feet, so they join the local workforce out of high school and after college.
“We’re trying to develop (worker) pipelines on demand for the Treasure Coast,” Dossantos explained.
