Despite an increase of 16% from May to June in Marion County’s unemployment rate, the rate is still over 50% lower than it was at the same time in 2020.
The June job figures provided by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity show that Marion County had an unemployment rate of 6.2%, an increase of 0.9% from May, when the unemployment rate was 5.3%.
According to the DEO, the number of unemployed rose by 1,408 in the county. There are 9,152 people that are unemployed in Marion County.
The state of Florida’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.7 percent, an increase of 0.7 percentage point over the month and 6.0 percent lower than June 2020.
Rusty Skinner, CEO of CareerSource CLM, says it has been “a strange year and there is a strong possibility that we’re seeing some traditional summer slump but we also may be seeing the first effects of the drive to the labor force due to the reduction of the $300 a week federal unemployment payments.”
“Last month, we had 40 businesses recruiting at our first in-person job fair since the pandemic, next week we’ll be holding a Healthcare Job Fair and on July 28, we’re partnering with neighboring workforce regions on an Agriculture Job Fair,” said Skinner in a press release from the CareerSource of Citrus, Levy, and Marion Counties.
Skinner noted that among Florida’s 67 counties, 66 saw unemployment rates rise in June while one rate was unchanged.