March 28, 2024

News Release

Data Mine: Key economic indicators show Florida's economy is strong

Stats refer to results from May, 2016.

| 7/11/2016

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The Philadelphia Fed's coincident index combines four economic indicators (nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index) to summarize current economic conditions into a single statistic. For the United States, the index rose 0.2 percent in May, 0.7 percent over the past three months, and 3.0 percent over the year.

Florida: Florida's economic performance continued to pick up in May. The current coincident economic indicator reading of 183.09 is slightly above the national level.

EMPLOYMENT

Payroll employment continued to rise in May for both the U.S. and Sixth District states (on aggregate), albeit at a much slower pace than in years. On net, the United States contributed 38,000 jobs, the lowest net change in nearly six years, and Sixth District states added 5,000 jobs, the lowest aggregate change in about four years.

Florida: Florida has been adding to payrolls since June 2012 and grew by approximately 24,500 jobs from April to May.

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

In the week ending June 18, the four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance fell for the United States and the aggregate of Sixth District states. Both measures peaked during the recession, trended downward during the recovery, hit historical lows earlier this year, and have hovered around those lows since then.

Florida: On a four-week-moving-average basis, initial claims for unemployment insurance in Florida picked up in the first of week of June, then declined in the second and third weeks. Claims remain well below their peak of early 2009.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

In May, the national civilian unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent from 5.0 percent in April, largely due to a steep decline of 458,000 in the labor force. The Sixth District aggregate civilian unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.1 percent in May.

Florida: Florida's unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in May, an improvement of one-tenth of a percentage point from April. The state's rate is below the District rate and the same as the national one.

REAL ESTATE

New-home construction permits for the United States fell 2.8 percent from the year-earlier level in May. Sixth District permits declined 0.8 percent during the same period.

Florida: New-home permit activity in Florida slowed to 8,258 units in May, registering a month-to-month decline of 9.1 percent and a year-to-year decline of 0.8 percent.

HOUSE PRICE INDEX

In the first quarter of 2016, U.S. home prices increased 5.4 percent from the year-earlier level; Sixth District home prices increased by 6.8 percent.

Florida: Home prices in Florida increased 2.0 percent from the previous quarter and 9.8 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Source: Data Digests, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

Tags: Banking & Finance, Government/Politics & Law, Manufacturing/Distribution, employment

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