jobs

Florida’s unemployment rate ticked down for a fourth consecutive month even as business groups have gotten “more cautious” about planning for the future.

The report follows the latest annual long-range forecast from state economists, which noted worker pay has been improving in what has been considered a “low-wage” state, while employment growth is expected to remain just under 1 percent annually.

Businesses are increasingly replacing entry-level jobs with AI tools. But the trend is getting harder to ignore, including for Florida's U.S. Senate candidates.

A Tampa nonprofit that offers vocational training found there's a growing interest in the trade industry among women, teenagers and people transitioning out of corporate workplaces.

Spirit was the dominant airline at the Fort Lauderdale airport. It was responsible for a third of passenger traffic and 13% of Broward County’s aviation revenue. Spirit’s one-time merger partner, JetBlue, has moved the fastest, announcing expanded service at FLL.

State economists have pointed to new entrants to the job market needing more time to find work, as opposed to people losing their jobs as one of the culprits behind the rise in the jobless rate.

The next president of the regional Federal Reserve Bank will be voting on interest rates next year. That’s just the highest profile task for the job that’s based in Atlanta but watches over the economy across parts of six states, including all of Florida.

Regional tourism was softening as 2025 came to to end. The new year appears to have started off with renewed interest by visitors to come to South Florida. And they're paying up to stay overnight, especially in Miami-Dade County.

While the proportion of international migrants jumped, the total number plunged, as did the number of people moving from other states. The slowdown — particularly from people in their 20s — comes as the Trump administration launched its immigration enforcement effort and the state wrestles with affordability challenges. " Economic growth is dependent on population growth," noted an expert.

Hiring in construction, retail and tourism helped push down the regional jobless rate in December as the statewide unemployment rate crept up again.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Pres. Raphael Bostic knows hiring has cooled off, but he remains most concerned about keeping inflation heating up. The Fed's main tool to fight inflation is higher interest rates, which is the opposite of what Pres. Trump has been pressuring the Fed to do.

Florida's unemployment rate hit a four-year high in November yet remains below what many economists consider full employment. The federal government shutdown meant skipping a month of data.