Florida Unemployment rate increased to 4.3% in March 2020

Tallahassee, Florida — The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DE0) announced Florida’s March 2020 Employment Data. This month, Florida saw expected changes in employment and unemployment data due to COVID-19 and the state’s effort to mitigate the spread.

Florida Economic Indicators include:

Unemployment rate increased to 4.3 percent.
Labor force was down 120,000 over the month, but increased over the year with 76,000 Floridians entering the workforce.
The number of private-sector jobs in Florida decreased by 37,300, down -0.5 percent from February 2020.
Florida businesses created 114,100 private-sector jobs over the year.
The annual private-sector job growth rate of 1.5 percent outpaced the national job growth rate of 1.0 percent.

Consumer Sentiment Index is 88.8 in March 2020.

Governor DeSantis and DEO are encouraging businesses to utilize state and federal resources currently available to Florida businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering many federal loan programs to small businesses throughout the nation. These loan programs include the newly launched Paycheck Protection Program and the Debt Relief Program through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, as well as the established Economic Injury Disaster Loan. Various state and federal loan programs are available to affected businesses. For a comprehensive overview of all federal and state resources available to small businesses impacted by COVID-19, please visit Floridajobs.org/COVID-19.

A closer look at Northwest Florida Unemployment rate for March 2020.