Marion unemployment 5.4% in August

Keith Green, a lineman with Ocala Electric Utility, works on lines from a bucket truck in heavy rain at the Eugene Dearmin substation off Southeast 36th Avenue in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

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Posted September 17, 2021 | Ocala Gazette Staff

The Marion County unemployment rate dropped to 5.4% in August, compared to 5.5% last month, according to numbers released by the Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday.

Year-over-year, the drop was even steeper with last August’s unemployment rate at 7.1%, DEO numbers showed.

The 2020 unemployment rate reflected the continued drag from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Locally, the labor force was 146,753 in August compared to 136,739 a year earlier. The number of people with jobs in August was 138,868 compared to 127,019 employed a year earlier. The number of people unemployed was 7,885 in August compared with 9,720 a year ago, according to the DEO.

Nonagricultural employment in Marion County, was 108,300 in July, an increase of 4,000 jobs over the year for a 3.8% annual growth rate, according to a report by CareerSource CLM.

The area also had the second highest annual job growth rate compared to all the metro areas in the state in manufacturing at 8.5%.

“Marion County, while remaining strong, showed dips in labor force and employed, while also showing reductions in the number of unemployed,” said Rusty Skinner, CEO of CareerSource CLM. “These variations are generally seen as a seasonal downward trend.”

In the Ocala area, manufacturing has added more than 800 new jobs; mining, logging, and construction added more than 300 jobs; and trade, transportation, and utilities jobs increased by more than 800 during the year, according to CareerSource.

The state’s unemployment rate was 5% in August, down .1% from July. The U.S. unemployment rate was 5.2%.