Jacksonville’s job market shrank again in February, marking a second straight month of losses even as the official unemployment rate inched down to 5.0% from January’s 5.2%. Over the 12 months ending in February 2026, nonagricultural employers reported a net decline of about 3,500 jobs. The pullback touched multiple corners of the local economy, with cuts in federal employment and finance only partly balanced by hiring in health care and hospitality.
According to Jax Daily Record, citing the Florida Department of Commerce, the unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metropolitan area, which includes Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties, slipped from 5.2% in January to 5.0% in February. The roughly 3,500 job net decline marked the area’s first annual drop since the pandemic and, excluding coronavirus shutdowns, the first such fall since 2010.
Federal Data Point To A Broader Cooling
Federal statistics compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tell a similar story. The latest BLS tables show total nonfarm employment in the Jacksonville area down about 0.4% year over year, with several private sectors losing steam. Financial activities were off more than 4%, and the trade, transportation and utilities sector weakened, while education and health services still managed to notch gains.
Where The Cuts Landed
The Florida Department of Commerce’s sector breakdown, reported by Jax Daily Record, shows the heaviest hits in government and finance. Federal government jobs fell by about 2,100, a 10.1% drop. Financial activities shed roughly 2,600 positions, about 3.6%. Trade, transportation and utilities lost around 1,400 jobs, undercutting some of the stability those sectors usually provide for the local economy.
Offsets And What To Watch
Hiring in education and health services, along with leisure and hospitality, helped cushion the blow. BLS tables show education and health services employment rising roughly 3–4% year over year, while leisure and hospitality was up about 2% in the same period. Those gains were not enough to erase the losses elsewhere but did keep the overall slide from being even steeper.
Why It Matters
State officials warn that monthly numbers can be noisy. Population growth, shifts in federal hiring and familiar seasonal patterns can all twist short term readings. Jimmy Heckman, the Department of Commerce’s chief of workforce statistics and economic research, has emphasized that changes in population and the labor force complicate month to month figures, according to Florida Trend.
Local workforce agencies and employers will be watching the March and April data to see whether this is a brief stumble or the start of something more persistent. For now, the numbers point to a cooler job market that is likely to shape hiring, training and budgeting decisions into the spring and summer.
