Florida’s economy continues to suffer during the coronavirus pandemic, including a jump in the state unemployment rate last month.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) announced on Friday that the unemployment rate rose from 10.3 percent in June to 11.3 percent in July. The national unemployment rate stood at 10.2 percent in July.
While there were 74,100 new private-sector jobs in July, the state saw 223,000 new Floridians trying to enter the workforce. Overall, Florida had almost 498,000 more private-sector jobs a year ago.
The main cause for the job loss is the coronavirus pandemic. Between February and April, Florida lost 1,178,100 jobs. Since then, almost half of that amount–572,200 jobs–have been created.
Lafayette County and Wakulla County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate with both counties standing at 6.4 percent, followed by Baker County and Gilchrist County at 6.6 percent each and DeSoto County at 6.7 percent.
Central Florida, which depends heavily on tourism, has been hurt hard by the pandemic. Osceola County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 20.2 percent followed by Orange County at 16.1 percent, Miami‐Dade County at 14.2 percent and Polk County at 13.2 percent.
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