Jacksonville area businesses reduced their payrolls in March for the third straight month, the Florida Department of Commerce reported May 1.
The unemployment rate for the Jacksonville metropolitan area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties declined even as the number of jobs fell, due to people leaving the labor force.
People are only counted in the labor force if they have a job or are actively looking for work, so discouraged workers who have stopped looking for jobs are not counted as unemployed…