Florida’s unemployment rate for August was 10.7 percent, generally unchanged from the revised July rate of 10.8 percent, but up 4.2 percent from a year ago. It is also 1 percentage point higher than the national average of 9.7 percent.
The rate represents 984,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9.1 million.
“The relative stability of Florida’s unemployment rate over the past few months is encouraging,” Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo said in a news release. “We anticipate improvement in Florida’s job market in the second quarter of next year, and are already seeing glimmers of hope to that effect.”
Based on the Florida Economic Estimating Conference held in July, the state’s job market is expected to start improving in the second quarter of 2010 as the job growth rate turns positive.
However, Florida’s unemployment rate is expected to hit 11 percent before it starts to fall.
In the Tampa Bay area, Hernando County had the highest unemployment rate in August 2009, increasing from 13.2 percent to 13.3 percent. It also had the sixth highest unemployment rate of all counties statewide. Hillsborough stayed steady at 11.1 percent, and Pinellas dropped slightly to 10.9 percent, the lowest in the seven-county Tampa Bay area.
Pasco and Polk each fell 0.1 percentage points to 12.1 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Sarasota and Manatee saw the inverse happen, with slight increases to 11.6 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.
Of the three metropolitan statistical areas comprising Tampa Bay, Lakeland-Winter Haven had the highest unemployment rate at 12.2 percent, followed by Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice with 11.9 percent and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater with 11.3 percent.
The rate represents 984,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9.1 million.
“The relative stability of Florida’s unemployment rate over the past few months is encouraging,” Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo said in a news release. “We anticipate improvement in Florida’s job market in the second quarter of next year, and are already seeing glimmers of hope to that effect.”
Based on the Florida Economic Estimating Conference held in July, the state’s job market is expected to start improving in the second quarter of 2010 as the job growth rate turns positive.
However, Florida’s unemployment rate is expected to hit 11 percent before it starts to fall.
In the Tampa Bay area, Hernando County had the highest unemployment rate in August 2009, increasing from 13.2 percent to 13.3 percent. It also had the sixth highest unemployment rate of all counties statewide. Hillsborough stayed steady at 11.1 percent, and Pinellas dropped slightly to 10.9 percent, the lowest in the seven-county Tampa Bay area.
Pasco and Polk each fell 0.1 percentage points to 12.1 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Sarasota and Manatee saw the inverse happen, with slight increases to 11.6 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively.
Of the three metropolitan statistical areas comprising Tampa Bay, Lakeland-Winter Haven had the highest unemployment rate at 12.2 percent, followed by Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice with 11.9 percent and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater with 11.3 percent.
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