- April 9, 2026
Florida’s unemployment rate ticked up in January to 4.5 percent, a jump of 0.2 percent from December, data released Wednesday from the Department of Commerce show.
The state added 23,800 private sector jobs over the month, but the trend for the last 12 months shows the state still down 9,000 positions.
While jobs in education and health services, along with manufacturing, increased in the past year, all other major industry sectors shed jobs. Financial activities lost 9,200 positions, construction lost 8,800 jobs, and leisure and hospitality lost 4,800 workers.
The monthly report comes a day after Gov. Ron DeSantis joined business leaders at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami to promote the Texas Stock Exchange.
The event touted the region from Texas to Florida as an economic “Boom Belt,” attracting job creators and young workers.
In brief remarks, DeSantis talked of the “very healthy competition” Florida has for business with states including Texas, Tennessee and Georgia.
“That's been really, really good, not just for the people of our individual states, but for the region as a whole,” DeSantis said. “We've shown a great framework for how you can succeed and really grow your economies and give people more opportunities.”
The January figure represents 499,000 people qualified as out of work from a labor force of 11.12 million.
The number of people out of work is 20,000 higher than revised December figures. Meanwhile, the workforce declined by 7,000 in the same month-to-month comparison.
The jobless mark is also 1 percentage point higher than a year earlier.
The January report follows the annual “benchmarking” process at the state and federal level that includes a revision of historical data.
Even with the revisions, the U.S. Department of Labor noted that Florida was the only state with any unemployment rate change in January.
The national rate currently stands at 4.3 percent, reflecting mid-March conditions. A year earlier, the U.S. rate was at 4 percent.
Florida’s rate was at 3.7 percent in July and has now grown in five consecutive reports. There was no October report due to a federal government shutdown.
The health care sector is adding the most jobs, gaining 38,000 over the last 12 months.
Manufacturing, up by 4,300 over the month, had an increase of 800 positions over the past year.
In the area of trade, transportation, and utilities, the number of jobs was down 6,200 for the year. But while retail lost 14,700 positions, wholesale trade jobs were up 2,700 for the year and transportation, warehousing, and utilities jobs were up 5,800.
Also, under financial activities, all 9,200 positions lost in the past year were in finance and insurance. There was no change reported in jobs tied to real estate.
Among the decline in leisure and hospitality jobs, 17,000 were tied to hotels and food service jobs. Jobs involving arts, entertainment and recreation were up 12,900 over the year.
The state also reported that while local governments added 3,000 workers in the past year, state government jobs declined by 2,100 and positions with the federal government were down 12,500.
For the metropolitan regions across the state, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area maintains the lowest unemployment rate at 3.9 percent.
Next lowest was the Orlando region at 4.9 percent, followed by Naples, Tallahassee and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater regions each at 5.1 percent.
The region that includes Wildwood and The Villages had the state high of 9 percent, with Homosassa Springs at 7.5 percent and Sebring at 7 percent.
