Florida’s jobless rate jumps for the first time since April, increases to 3.8%

For the first time in five months, Florida’s unemployment rate has increased.

The jobless figure came in at 3.8% in August. That’s up from a 3.7% rate that had held steady since April, according to FloridaCommerce , the state’s economic development bureau.

In the year-over-year comparison, the latest rate is up by 0.4 percentage points. The unemployment rate for August 2024 was 3.4%.

The latest Florida figure accounts for 424,000 Floridians who are without a job in a labor force of 11.19 million people, according to the FloridaCommerce news release. Across the state, there were 98,200 jobs added in the past year, an increase of 1%.

The education and health services sector saw the greatest gain in jobs in the past year with an addition of 38,000 positions, up by 2.5% annually. T