Shutdown Pauses Jobs Update

Amid the federal government shutdown, the State Department of Commerce did not release monthly unemployment figures as expected on Friday.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau and Department of Labor are not updating labor market and employment information during the shutdown, leaving the state’s jobless rate of 3.8 percent on hold, according to Florida Department of Commerce spokeswoman Kristin Gehrke.

“Florida’s release of employment data will recommence when the federal government resumes operations,” Gehrke said when asked about the latest numbers on Friday.

The state’s unemployment rate will stay at the level reported for August, which showed 424,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed from a workforce of 11.196 million.

On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly said Florida is creating more businesses and leading in talent recruitment and development. Growth in skilled manufacturing jobs faces a challenge “explaining to young people why they want to get into skilled laborer jobs,” Kelly added.

“Most of these jobs are pretty high tech, exciting jobs,” Kelly told the House Careers and Workforce Subcommittee.

Of the 430,000 Floridians working in manufacturing, more than half are 45 and older, with many companies operating with a “lean” workforce — a situation that may continue through 2035, according to Kelly.

“Which is very disproportionately different than most of our other workforce sectors in Florida,” he said. “So, for all we’re doing, we’re just simply aging our retirements out of our manufacturing sector faster than people coming into it.”