Improvement on the jobs front in Palm Beach County and Florida in general.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday released the March figures, which showed Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, down 0.1 percent from a year ago. The month-over-month decrease was 0.2 percent.
The state gained 246,100 jobs over the year.
In Palm Beach County, an equally impressive jobs report from the state:
The local jobless rate fell to its lowest level in nearly a decade (since May 2007). March's 4.2 percent unemployment was down from 4.7 percent in February and from 4.5 percent in March 2016.
Cissy Proctor, Executive Director of the Dept. of Economic Opportunity, says manufacturing was one of the best growing segments of the jobs market last month, with 13,000 jobs gained year-over-year, and 2,600 just in one month's time. She says it's due to strong efforts underway to diversify the state's economy.
"A lot of times you don't think of Florida as a manufacturing state, but with numbers like this we know that we really are becoming a manufacturing state...strong in that industry. So having that targeted investment is really paying off."
The construction industry led the way locally, with 9.1 percent (3,000 jobs) year-over-year job growth last month in Palm Beach County.
Leisure and hospitality came in second in job growth, with 2,900 jobs added.
Proctor says the Florida figures show this year is so far going in the right direction.
"Private sector businesses in the first quarter of 2017 created over 60,000 new jobs."
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