Palm Beach County unemployment hits record high at 13.9 percent

Palm Beach County’s unemployment rate reached a record high of 13.9 percent in April, a point above the state average of 12.9 percent, and a disturbing figure reflecting the harsh employment impact of the coronavirus crisis, according to the latest monthly reports released today by CareerSource Palm Beach County and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
“We knew it would be bad but we were hoping it wasn’t going to be a record,” said Tom Veenstra, vice president of Career Source Palm Beach County, the nonprofit organization chartered by the state to lead workforce development in Palm Beach County.
In another sign of the dramatic job losses, CareerSource Palm Beach County reported employers seeking workers dropped by more than 70 percent in April compared to January.
“Hopefully, the impact will be short term,” Veenstra added.
Outside of the Great Depression, the county's previous highest unemployment rate reached nearly 12 percent during the Great Recession in summer 2010. The only bright spot in Friday’s data – the county’s rate remained below the 14.7 percent national rate.
The numbers are shocking, not only for the staggering number of jobless they represent - 91,134 in Palm Beach County and 1.2 million workers statewide - but also the speed at which they climbed. In April 2019, the county’s jobless rate was 3 percent.
“We’ve never seen a change this dramatic and this quick,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference on Friday in Jacksonville. DeSantis said he endured strong criticism for not imposing harsher restrictions but his decision resulted in few job losses.
“Had I taken some approaches that were more draconian, I think you would see those numbers be way worse,” DeSantis said. “We tried to mitigate it as best as we could.”
The county’s leisure and hospitality industries sustained the most severe losses, dropping 45 percent from 93,300 workers in April 2019 to 51,300 workers in April 2020. Within that category, restaurants and bars took the biggest hit, with the workforce cut 60.5 percent from 60,300 in April 2019 to 23,800 in April 2020.
The county’s construction industry saw only 6.3 percent reduction in workers between April 2019 to April 2020 and the financial services and hospital sectors actually grew.
Statewide, Palm Beach County unemployment rate ranks 16th among Florida’s 67 counties. Lafayette County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate 5.5 percent and Osceola County had the highest at 20.3 percent.
Friday’s unemployment claims report shows 76,629 jobless workers in Palm Beach County applied for unemployment benefits and 1,544,904 applicants processed statewide by the Florida Dept. of Economic Opportunity to date out of more than 2 million submitted claims since the pandemic began ravaging the economy in March.
CareerSource Palm Beach County this week launched a new 'Help Is Here' web portal to assist job seekers and employers in their efforts to access assistance needed for recovery. The new web portal can be accessed from the organization's home page at www.careersourcepbc.com.
Applications also start today for Palm Beach County's $60 million Business Restart Program to accelerate the reopening of businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The county has dedicated $50 million toward businesses with 25 or fewer employees and $10 million toward businesses with more than 25 employees. Criteria and an application can be found at http://pbcgov.com/hes
The CareerSource Business Services staff connects employers with qualified candidates at no cost. They can be contacted at www.careersourcepbc.com or call 561.340.1060 and select option 3.
Cstapleton@pbpost.com
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