The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has announced that the unemployment rate for the six-county Jacksonville region increased slightly from 2.3% in April to 2.4% in May.
Of the 856,248 people counted as part of the area's workforce in May, 20,324 were unemployed, an increase of 1,130 from April.
The rate in St. Johns County for May 2021 was 2.9%. In May 2022, it was down to 1.9%, though that was 0.2% higher than in April.
In Duval County, the rate was 4.5% for May 2021. In May 2022, it had fallen to 2.5%, unchanged from April.
In May 2021, the rate for all of Florida was 4.7%. That fell to 2.5% in May 2022, 0.1% higher than in April.
The national rate in May 2021 was 5.5%, falling to 3.4% in May 2022, 0.1% higher than it was in April.
“May saw a continuation of a relatively low unemployment rate for our region, which has hovered at or below 2.5% since March of this year — and well below the 4.1% unemployment rate we were experiencing in May a year ago,” said CareerSource Northeast Florida President Bruce Ferguson.
Compared to other metro areas in Florida, the Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area had the fastest annual job growth rate in professional and business services (up 11.9%, representing 13,700 jobs) and in the mining, logging and construction sector (up 8.1%, representing 3,900 jobs) from May 2021 to May 2022, he said.
The most openings among all industries in the region include first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (1,524 positions), registered nurses (1,510 positions), retail salespersons (1,486 positions), stockers and order fillers (943 positions) and software developers (908 positions).
The majority of the sought-after jobs in the professional, scientific and technical services industry regionally include marketing, web development/information technology and engineering positions.
In May, CareerSource NEFL received nearly 3,000 open job positions from its partner-employers.
CareerSource NEFL will hold its next virtual regional job fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 21. In collaboration with other CareerSource Regions in Florida, the organization will also host a virtual federal employment July workshop from 9 to 10 a.m. July 13.
For more information about these and other job workshops and employer recruitment events, go to careersourcenortheastflorida.com/events.
CareerSource NEFL can connect job seekers with employers who are hiring now and also offers assessments and training to help them gain the skills needed to put them on a new career track. To learn how CareerSource NEFL can help secure that next career, go to careersourcenefl.com or call 904-356-5627.
CareerSource NEFL is responsible for providing a trained workforce to businesses in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
