Palm Beach County unemployment rate bests state, U.S. for 8th month in row

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As the COVID-19 pandemic eased and vaccinations became widely available, Palm Beach County’s jobless rate for April held steady at 4.7 percent – below both the 5.7 percent national rate and Florida’s 5.1 percent rate for the eighth consecutive month, local and state officials said Friday.

The county’s unemployment rate remained unchanged from March.

April also marks the second time in a year that the county’s unemployment dropped below the year-ago rate, which was a record-high 14.7 percent in April 2020, based on the latest monthly reports released Friday by CareerSource Palm Beach County and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. They noted that all numbers had not been seasonally adjusted.

“For the first time in more than a year, there are over-the-year job gains in all but one industry sector,” Julia Dattolo, president and chief executive of CareerSource Palm Beach County, the nonprofit chartered by the state to lead workforce development in Palm Beach County, said in a prepared statement.