The general unemployment rate has now increased in Florida for three months straight.

FloridaCommerce, the state’s economic development bureau, released the unemployment figures for March showing the jobless figure has climbed to 4.7%. That continues the upward trend that began in January.

Florida had a 4.5% jobless rate to start the year. The February number came in at 4.6%. Now, FloridaCommerce officials say 523,000 Floridians were without a job in March out of a total workforce of 11.15 million people.

Florida’s unemployment rate is 0.4 percentage points higher than the March national figure of 4.3%. That’s notable, as for about five years, Florida’s unemployment rate had been lower than the national rate.

For the past few months, that trend has reversed. And the national unemployment rate even decreased in March, falling from the February figure of 4.4% while Florida’s rate rose.

There was a bright spot in the Florida jobless numbers in terms of nonagricultural jobs. That metric saw an increase of 28,100 jobs to 9.99 million workers in March, a 0.3% increase over February.

But when compared to last year, nonagricultural jobs are down by 22,400 jobs, a decrease of 0.2% and another area. That’s another area where the national numbers were better than Florida’s, as there was a 0.2% increase year-over-year in nonagricultural jobs across the country.

Further data in the nonagricultural job market shows eight of the 10 major industries in the state had negative annual job growth for March. Total government jobs were the hardest hit, as there were 12,100 fewer jobs in that sector, marking a 1% decline from last year. Financial services in the state slipped by 11,500 jobs in the past year and construction slipped by 8,700 jobs.

More than half of the 25 metropolitan areas FloridaCommerce tracks for employment data saw decreases year to year. There were 14 metro areas where the number of jobs slipped, with the Fort Lauderdale area leading the way with a 1% decline, or a loss of 9,300 jobs. The West Palm Beach and Jacksonville metro areas had the next-highest year-to-year job declines, respectively.

There were nine metro areas that saw the number of workers increase. The Orlando area led in adding jobs, increasing by 12,400 workers over March 2025.

April’s unemployment figures are expected to be released by FloridaCommerce by the end of this month.