The COVID19 pandemic quickly evolved from a health crisis to a severe economic one, shuttering many businesses, with dramatic effects specifically in the Leisure and Hospitality industry, and across many other industry sectors, in a local, nationwide and worldwide effort to slow the spread of the virus.
In the last 10 weeks, the U.S. economy wiped out all the job gains in the last 11 years since the Great Recession of 2008, with more than 40 million Americans filing for unemployment since the pandemic crisis started, reflecting a broad shock to the labor market.
This report includes the second local unemployment data release since the Gainesville MSA started social distancing measures and closure of nonessential businesses to flatten the COVID19 curve. The employment numbers cover the month of April 2020. These numbers do not reflect yet the full impacts of COVID19, and can be revised in the next data release.
It is the first jobs report that begins to capture the scale of the economic situation in the Gainesville MSA labor market. The changes in some of these indicators during April 2020 reflect the devastating effects of the pandemic in the economy and the efforts to contain the outbreak.
For the state of Florida employment & unemployment report, click HERE. For the Gainesville FL MSA Economic Indicators report, click HERE.
Highlights of the Gainesville MSA report:
- Unemployment. Gainesville FL MSA not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.9% in April 2020, up from the 3.9% rate in March 2020. See Page 1 for more details
- Employment. Nonfarm employment in the Gainesville MSA posted an over-the-year loss of -10.3%.
- Major Industries. 8 out of 10 major industries posted over-the-year losses in April 2020. The Leisure and Hospitality, Manufacturing, and Education & Health Services industries were the industries that experienced the most dramatic negative effects in local employment. Over-the-year employment gains were seen in only one industry: Professional & Business Services (0.7%). Over-the-year losses were seen in Manufacturing (-16.7%); Trade, Transportation, & Utilities (-7.2%); Information (-5.6%); Financial Activities (-4.4%); Education & Health Services (-12.8%); Leisure & Hospitality (-39.9%); Other Services (-9.1%); and, Government (-5.3%).
The Alachua County Economic Indicators Report is a publication prepared by Alachua County. This report provides a snapshot of recent changes in the economy of the Gainesville MSA. The MSA is comprised of Alachua County and Gilchrist County. The report draws on official statistics that have been released during the last month. The data published in this publication was gathered from several sources such as Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), National Association of Realtors, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), and Office of Economic & Demographic Research.
