More great news for the South Florida economy. The labor market is definitely on the mend and has been recovering in a healthy fashion. The South Florida unemployment rate is comparable to that of the State, and it is below that of the national average. Shaun Bevan states that:

South Florida’s jobless rate declined in all three counties in March, matching up with the state’s unemployment rate.

The tri-county area had a not-seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 7.5 percent, down from 8 percent in February and down from 8.5 percent from the same period last year, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent, the lowest since October 2008 when it was 7.4 percent. There were 706,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 9.4 million.

“Solid growth in business payrolls and a declining unemployment rate were welcome news only tempered by a decline in the laborforce,” said University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith. “Florida is batting two for three in the monthly jobs reports thus far in 2013, if we can keep this average up it will help speed the recovery in the state’s labor market.”

The state’s unemployment rate dropped below the national average in March, which was 7.6 percent.

The employed workforce in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties declined by 4,064 jobs during March to 2.7 million. The labor force also declined last month by 18,811 workers to 2.9 million. During the last 12 months, the region added 51,468 jobs, and decreased its unemployment rate by 10 percentage points from 8.5 percent in March 2012.

By individual counties, Miami-Dade lost 13,534 jobs in March, but the county’s not-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 9.2 percent. That number is 0.1 percentage point higher than the jobless rate one year ago. The county’s labor force declined by 19,374 workers in March.

Broward saw an increase of jobs with an increase of 5,752 employed workers in March and 604 people added to the labor force. The county’s jobless rate decreased 0.5 percentage points to 5.7 percent, according to state data.

Broward has added 28,951 employed workers over the past 12 months. Over the same amount of time, the county’s unemployment rate dropped 1.9 percentage points from March 2012’s rate of 7.6 percent.

Palm Beach County added 3,718 jobs and its unemployment rate decreased 0.6 percentage points to 6.9 percent in March. The county’s labor force decreased by only 41 workers from February to March. Over the past 12 months, the county decreased its jobless rate by 1.9 percentage points from 8.8 percent.

The economic indicators are clearly pointing to an economy that is improving in South Florida. Although we are not out of the woods by any means it is comforting to see that we are definitely trending in the right direction. Keep it South Florida!