Daytona Beach, FL – Local unemployment keeps heading in the right direction at the end of 2015.
The latest report from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity has Volusia’s unemployment rate at 5% for December 2015. That’s just below the 5.1% posted in November and nearly a full point until December 2014’s rate of 5.9%.
Flagler’s unemployment rate fell to 5.5% in the final month of 2015. It was at 5.7% in November and 6.5% in December of the year prior.
It’s the 5th month in a row that Volusia and Flagler’s unemployment rates have dropped, according to FDEO stats. The area hasn’t seen unemployment rates this low since 2007.
Volusia’s unemployment rate ties it for 31st highest at the county level alongside Liberty and Pasco. Flagler is tied for 13th highest with Calhoun, Glades and Hamilton.
The unemployment rates for both counties remain above the current national (4.8%) and state average (4.7%).
The national rate showed no improvement over the past month but did fall by 2/3rds of a point compared to December 2014. Florida’s rate fell by 1/10th of a point compared to November and 7/10ths of a point compared to the December prior.
At the metro level, the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach area has the 12th highest unemployment rate in the state at 5%. That includes the Palm Coast area. It also tied for 2nd with Lakeland-Winter Haven for year-over-year growth in manufacturing jobs.
Unemployed people in Volusia and Flagler fell slighly to 14,082 in December compared to 14,394 in November, according to CareerSource Flagler Volusia.
9 of the area’s 10 major industries gained jobs over the year, including education & health services (+1,600), professional & business services (+1,500), trade, transportation & utilities (+700), manufacturing (+600), government (+500), mining, logging & construction (+300), financial activities (+300, and leisure & hospitality (+100).
Professional and business services (+6.9%), manufacturing (+5.8%), education & health services (+4.4%), financial activities (+3.5%) and government (+2.1%) grew faster in the metro area than statewide, per CareerSource FV.
All numbers in this report are nonseasonally adjusted.
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.