Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.8% in January

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Florida’s unemployment rate in January dropped to 4.8% as the state’s number of jobless residents continued a downward trend from last spring’s historic highs caused by the pandemic, according to figures released Monday.

There were 482,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of more than 10 million workers, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Nationwide, the unemployment rate in January was 6.3%.

Florida’s unemployment rate in December was 5.1%, and it was 3.3% in January 2020, by comparison.

Florida lost more than 1.2 million jobs in the early months of the pandemic, but the state has since gained back more than half of those jobs.

The most jobs lost over the year has been in Florida’s hospitality industry, which saw its labor force decline by more than 22%.

In January, St. Johns and Monroe counties had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 3.5%. Miami-Dade County had Florida’s highest unemployment rate at 8.1%, followed by Osceola County at 7%.

All but one of Florida’s two dozen metro areas had year-over-year job losses in January. Only the Lakeland-Winter Haven metro area gained jobs, adding 2,100 positions.