Workforce and Labor Market in Sebastian, Florida

The Sebastian-Vero Beach metro, which is Indian River County, had a civilian labor force of about 67,300 in August 2026, with 63,500 employed and an unemployment rate of 5.6 percent, in preliminary federal data (BLS Economy at a Glance).

Federal statistics treat Sebastian as part of a two-city metro. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its local labor data under the name Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL, also listed as the Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, and the figures cover workers who live anywhere in Indian River County, from Roseland and the Sebastian Highlands to Vero Beach and Fellsmere. City-only estimates come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey; this page uses the monthly BLS series, extracted on October 2, 2026, because it is the newest official count (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

The trend through the summer of 2026 was a slow rise in joblessness around Sebastian. The metro unemployment rate climbed from 5.2 percent in March to 5.6 percent in July and August, as the number of employed residents slipped from 64,100 to 63,500 while the count of unemployed people edged up from 3,600 to 3,800 (BLS).

Education and health services is the largest employer group in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro, with about 12,800 jobs in August 2026, followed by trade, transportation and utilities at 10,800 and leisure and hospitality at 7,800 (BLS Economy at a Glance).

Goods-producing work is a small share of the Indian River County economy. Construction and its related trades hold about 5,100 jobs in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro, more than manufacturing at about 3,200, and the two together are smaller than education and health services alone. Financial activities, at about 3,100 jobs, held steady through 2026 after dipping 3.1 percent below the prior year in several spring months (BLS).

Job counts and resident counts measure different things. The BLS nonfarm series counts jobs located in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro, about 58,900 in August 2026, while the labor force figures count residents, about 63,500 of them working. The two series come from different surveys and are not meant to match exactly (BLS).

Total nonfarm jobs in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro ran below 2025 levels for most of 2026, falling 2.3 percent year over year in March before leveling off at roughly zero change by July and August (BLS Economy at a Glance).

Leisure and hospitality, the industry that includes the restaurants and lodging around Sebastian Inlet and the riverfront, drove the early-year decline: its jobs were 7.5 percent below a year earlier in March 2026 and 6.5 percent below in April, before the gap narrowed to 1.3 percent in August. Government employment around Sebastian dipped from 5,300 in April and May to 4,800 in July, then rose to 5,200 in August (BLS).

Some sectors in the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro grew. Professional and business services ran 1.4 percent above the prior year in every month from March through August 2026, and education and health services turned from a 1.6 percent decline in the spring to a 2.4 percent gain by August. Other services posted a 6.7 percent year-over-year gain in March. Manufacturing swung from 3.1 percent below the prior year in March, April and May to 3.2 percent above in June, and construction-related jobs reached 5,200 in July, 2.0 percent above July 2025, the highest monthly count of the spring and summer (BLS). The August 2026 figures are preliminary and subject to revision when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases final estimates.

In August 2026 the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro's 5.6 percent jobless rate topped both neighbors: 5.2 percent in Port St. Lucie to the south and 4.8 percent in Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville to the north (BLS Port St. Lucie; BLS Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville).

Sebastian sits on the line between those two larger labor markets, with Brevard County directly north across the St. Sebastian River and St. Lucie County to the south of Vero Beach. Both neighbors added jobs over the year to August 2026 while the Sebastian-Vero Beach metro lost a fraction of a percent. Statewide, Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.5 percent in August 2026, down from 4.7 percent in March (BLS Florida Economy at a Glance); because the state figure is seasonally adjusted and the metro figures are not, the comparison is approximate.

The public workforce board for Sebastian is CareerSource Research Coast, part of the CareerSource Florida network, which serves Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties with job search, training and employer services (CareerSource Research Coast).

CareerSource Research Coast lists its Comprehensive Career Center at 4100 Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce and an appointment-only Indian River County location at United Against Poverty, 1400 27th Street in Vero Beach, the closest office to Sebastian. Youth programs for ages 16 to 24 operate at Treasure Coast Technical College in Vero Beach and at Indian River State College, and the main line is 1-866-482-4473 (CareerSource Research Coast contacts). Sebastian residents who lose a job file for Florida reemployment assistance through the state's CONNECT system and can get in-person help at any of the board's four career centers (CareerSource Research Coast).

For Sebastian employers, the board's on-the-job training program reimburses up to 50 percent of a new hire's wage to offset training and supervision costs (On-the-Job Training). It also publishes a quarterly economic overview for Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie counties, with the second quarter of 2026 edition posted in October 2026 (Labor Market Tools).

The City of Sebastian's draft FY 2026-27 budget lists 134 full-time and 11 part-time positions in its General Fund, led by 39 full-time positions in Police Operations, with more staff in the stormwater, golf course and airport funds (draft FY 2026-27 budget book).

The city's Human Resources Department, at City Hall on Main Street, handles recruitment and retention, training, labor relations and negotiations, and position classification and salary administration for those employees (Human Resources). Sebastian Municipal Airport adds private jobs on city land: the airport reports ten tenants, including the city-owned Sebastian Municipal Golf Course (Airport).