Florida’s recovery stalled towards the end of 2020 in the face of a surge of COVID-19 infections. While
a seasonally adjusted basis indicated 31,000 new jobs, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the growth was only 2,000 new jobs. The main difference between the two is that seasonal adjustments try to measure and remove predicable seasonally patterns to employment which the pandemic has disrupted in the short term.
Florida gained back over 60% of the jobs lost due to the pandemic. Employment for the year was down -625,000 and the number of people unemployed was up +322,000. Leisure and Hospitality sector lost the most jobs, down by approximately 200,000 jobs. While down overall, one office-using employment sector, Finance and Insurance, had solid year-over-year gains at 11,100 job created.
Looking ahead to 2021, Florida will benefit from a faster pace to vaccinations which could potentially unleash demand within the Leisure & Hospitality sector.
