There Are Two Jobs for Every Floridian Looking For Work

The number of Florida’s open jobs continues on the upward trend and consumer sentiment increases from a 10-year low, according to Florida Chamber Foundation’s director of research Dave Sobush. As of June, more than 9.3 million Floridians were employed—up 30,000 from May. All jobs lost during the pandemic from February to April 2020 have been recovered, with an additional net gain of almost 270,000 jobs. Florida’s unemployment rate fell by 0.1 points from last month to 2.9%, reflecting more than 300,000 unemployed Floridians looking for work. However, more than 600,000 open jobs, suggests strong evidence of skills gaps in Florida’s workforce. Florida’s jobs report continues to show positive growth; research shows that the education and health services industries have surpassed pre-COVID-19 pandemic employment levels. Although the leisure and hospitality industries are behind with fewer employees than before the pandemic, the 12,000 jobs created in this sector last month made up more than a third of all jobs created. In other news, Florida consumer sentiment increased from its ten-year low of 61.5 in May to 62.9 in June and remains ahead of U.S. consumer sentiment of 50.0.