A Space Coast labor squeeze in the making: Jobless rate at 3.4 percent in Brevard

by Wayne T. Price — May 18, 2018

(Photo: Getty Images)

With strong gains in the area’s manufacturing, retail and health services sector, Brevard County’s unemployment rate continued to shrink in April, falling to 3.4 percent.

According to state labor data released on Friday, Brevard County had 259,353 people with jobs.That’s nearly 2,600 more people that the same time last year.

The jobless rate in April 2017 was 4.1 percent.

The number of jobs in Brevard last month was the third-highest monthly employment figure for Brevard going back to 1990.

Only September 2017, at 260,931, and July 2017, at 260,892, were higher.

If the trend continues for the first three months of this year, 2018 is set to be the highest annual employment average ever for the Space Coast.

Many of those jobs are the result of the county’s population increases, and in growing sectors like tourism and health care. And then there is the significant growth Brevard’s high-tech and manufacturing sector — such as Northrop Grumman Corp. at Orlando Melbourne International Airport — and its impact on the labor force.

Statewide, the jobless rate held steady at  3.9 percent for the seventh straight month.

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Source: Florida Today