In January 2022, Florida’s unemployment rate decreased by 2.5 percentage points over the year to 3.5% and continued to remain below the national rate of 4.0%. The U.S. Department of Labor’s revised historical data also now shows that Florida’s unemployment rate has remained below the national rate for 14 consecutive months.
In January 2022, Florida’s labor force participation total was 10,448,000, greater than Florida’s February 2020 pre-pandemic labor force, and increasing by 318,000, or 3.1%, over the year. Employment opportunities have also been amplified as Floridians remain confident in finding meaningful employment.
There were 8,067,500 private sector jobs statewide in January 2022, an increase of 124,700 (+1.6%) from February 2020.
The state’s total private sector employment increased by 23,900 jobs in January 2022, which is an increase of 0.3 percent over the month. In January 2022, total private sector employment increased by 496,700 jobs (+6.6 percent) over the year. The national over-the-year rate of increase was 5.2 percent in January 2022.
“Florida’s January 2022 numbers and the U.S. Department of Labor’s updated data for 2021 demonstrate that Florida continues to have a robust economic climate where individual Floridians have opportunities to get ahead – even in the face of inflationary federal policies that are causing the price of virtually everything to spike,†said Governor Ron DeSantis.
“Florida has surpassed 2019 numbers in almost every regard, including employment and labor force participation while lockdown states continue to lag.â€
Florida Economic Indicators for January 2022 include:
• Unemployment rate is 3.5%, remaining unchanged from the revised December 2021 rate (which was revised down from 4.4% by the U.S. Department of Labor ), and down 2.5 percentage points over the year.
• Labor force was up 48,000 over the month, bringing the January 2022 total up to 10,448,000.
• Florida’s labor force growth represents a 3.1% increase over the year compared to 2.2% nationally.
• Florida businesses gained 23,900 private-sector jobs over the month, increasing by 0.3 percentage points.
• Florida’s private sector employment increased by 496,700, or 6.6%, over the year, higher than the national rate of 5.2%.
• Private sector industries gaining the most jobs over the month were:
- Professional and Business Services with 9,300 new jobs.
- Trade, Transportation, and Utilities with 7,400 new jobs.
- Leisure and Hospitality with 4,300 new jobs.
- Financial Activities with 3,200 new jobs.
- Construction with 1,900 new jobs.
- Education and Health Services with 1,100 new jobs.
Highlights of Revised Historical Data
• Florida’s unemployment rate bested the nation by a range of 0.4% to 1.1% lower than the national rate from December 2020 through January 2022.
• Florida’s unemployment rate has held steady or declined for 18 consecutive months.
• Florida reached the pre-pandemic job growth rate in October 2021, and now has 124,700 more private sector jobs than February 2020, or 101.6% of the pre pandemic level.
• Florida reached pre-pandemic labor force levels in June 2021, and now has 154,000 more Floridians in the workforce than February 2020, or 101.5% of the pre pandemic level.
• Florida employers have maintained or added jobs for 21 consecutive months since May 2020. ■