Brevard’s unemployment down to 3.5 percent: County has more than 7,200 jobs from a year ago

, FLORIDA TODAY

Brevard County’s unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in October, basically the same as a month earlier.

Year over year though, the Trinity of a positive job market continued on the Space Coast.

A larger worker force.

More people working.

Fewer unemployed.

Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity released the October jobs figure Friday morning and many areas of the state reported healthy employment gains.The state’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent, the lowest in more than a decade.

More than 127,000 private-sector jobs were created in October. Since December 2010, Florida businesses have created 1,448,300 jobs and the state’s annual job growth rate of 2.6 percent also is greater than the nation’s rate of 1.6 percent.

As of October, Florida’s unemployment rate had dropped 7.1 percentage points since December 2010, faster than the national decline. In the last year, 216,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 2.2 percent, which is more than four times the national labor force growth rate of only 0.5 percent.

“The unemployment rate has consistently declined while jobs are being added in diverse industries all across the Sunshine State, proving that we have the best economic climate in the nation,” said Cissy Proctor, executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, said in a statement.

In Brevard, the largest growth employment sectors over the last 12 months were:

  • Service jobs — 1,900
  • Construction —  1,400
  • Manufacturing — 900
  • Education and health services — 800.

The county’s workforce, which dipped slightly from September, grew by more than 3,100 over the year. The number of people working jumped to 259,075, a gain of nearly 7,300 from October 2016.

Read article here:  https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2017/11/17/brevards-unemployment-down-3-5-percent-more-than-7-200-than-year-ago/874031001/