JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Eight months into the pandemic, Florida’s unemployment rate seems to be holding steady.
New data released Friday shows Florida’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent in November, which is the same as it was in October.
Many would attribute this to Gov. Ron Desantis reopening the state without restrictions months ago. Letting establishments work at full capacity has allowed many Floridians to go back to work.
Florida’s 6.4 percent unemployment rate is a huge recovery compared to the pandemic high of 13.8 percent. It’s also lower than November’s national average of 6.7 percent.
Although many were afraid of the governor’s lack of restrictions after reopening in September, some economists don’t think it was a bad move.
“I think it was effective from an economic standpoint,” said economic expert Don Wiggins. “There’s definitely a trade-off.”
That tradeoff being possibly more cases of COVID-19.
“Here locally, our numbers slowly started to creep up,” said Elizabeth Ransom, chief physician executive at Baptist Health. “And the concern is that will accelerate.”
In defense of a question presented on the topic at a news conference Tuesday, Desantis pointed out states like California and Pennsylvania. He said they are states with more restrictions, but more covid-19 cases per capita.
“If they want to shut down businesses, I’m going to stand in the way,” Desantis said. “I don’t think the government has a right to put these people out of work.”
No matter where you stand on the debate, many of us agree, we are just ready to get back to normal. Having this new vaccine is one step closer to that.
“Just a few more months, if we can really hang in there, we can keep ourselves and our loved ones safe,” Ransom said. "The virus is out there and we know that and it’s just going up.”
