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Metro
Osceola County’s economic outlook is improving after months of rampant unemployment, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.
And Central Florida as a whole has had more job gains than any other part of Florida, the departme nt’s August records show.
Residents are “entering the labor market more and more and finding successful employment,” DEO Chief Economist Adrienne Johnston told reporters.
After the region’s tourism industry evaporated when the pandemic hit in March 2020, Osceola and Orange counties saw an average 10 percent jobless rate. Osceola had the highest rate in the state for much of the year, with Orange County in third place for much of the same period.
But the new state figures released Friday show Osceola in eighth place with a 6 percent jobless rate.
Where are the new jobs coming from? Leisure and hospitality, according to the DEO, which administers assistance funds and reemployment programs for those out of work.
“As we continue to see people comfortable and engaging in economic activity we see increases in tourism and business travel. We are seeing that impact felt in the central part of the state,” Johnston said.
Still, the uptick in the tourism comes with a reported loss of 4,300 hospitality jobs last month, too.
Officials said they don’t know if that’s a fluke or a reaction to the Delta variant of COVID-19 and the late summer surge in infection rates.
What’s more, Florida’s hospitality industry expects a $5.3 billion loss in business travel this year, according to a Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association projection released earlier this month.
“Florida is a top destination for national and international business travel, and our hotels and restaurants rely on that revenue,” FRLA President and CEO Carol Dover said. “While leisure travel returned this year — in some regions higher than even 2019’s record figures — business travel still remains down overall, and Florida is projected to end 2021 with the secondhighest losses in the nation, behind only the state of California.”
Most business travelers are canceling, reducing, and postponing trips amid rising COVID-19 cases, according to the American Hotel & Lodging Association.
The lack of business travel and events has major repercussions for employment, and underscores the need for targeted federal relief, such as the Save Hotel Jobs Act, the trade group said.
“While some industries have started rebounding from the pandemic, this report is a sobering reminder that hotels and hotel employees are still struggling,” said AHLA President and CEO Chip Rogers. “Business travel is critical to our industry’s viability, especially in the fall and winter months when leisure travel normally begins to decline.”
