Officials have released Florida’s unemployment figures for the month of March.
Florida’s unemployment rate is staying right where it’s been—5.7 percent. But Jesse Panuccio, head of the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity, says while the rate hasn’t changed, the labor pool certainly has.
“Over the last five months while our unemployment rate has held steady,” Panuccio says, “Florida’s labor force has grown over that time period. “So when your labor force is growing, as long as you’re adding jobs even if the unemployment rate holds steady, that can still be a good news story for the economy, and that’s what we’ve seen here in the state.
The numbers for March are preliminary, but it appears Florida has surpassed its pre-recession peak in private sector employment. That prior mark was set in March 2007.
