Wells Fargo sounds cautious note on Florida jobs
July 18, 2020 - Florida payrolls recovered in June, with employers adding almost 300,000 net new jobs last month, a report from Wells Fargo Securities said. The unemployment rate in Florida fell from 13.7 percent in May to 10.4 percent in June, but the state is still well short of recouping the nearly 1.2 million jobs lost in March and April, as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the report said. The leisure and hospitality industry added 170,300 new jobs in June, following an 82,400 job gain in May. Wells Fargo cautioned that the report reflects conditions in mid-June, when most of the state was in the second phase of re-opening. Since then, the public health situation has deteriorated, and the state has seen a spike in new Covid-19 cases, as well as an upturn in hospitalizations and deaths, prompting state and local officials to close bars and pause the re-opening process. That could be one factor behind a big jump in first-time jobless claims in Florida in the week ended July 11, the report said.