Four months ago, the states top economists, sitting as the Florida Economic Estimating Conference, forecast unemployment would hold at about 10.6 percent for the first quarter of 2012.
With sluggish growth expected to continue through the current fiscal year and a moderate increase in the next fiscal year, an 8.7 percent mark was foreseen as attainable in 2014.
On Friday, the latest numbers from the state Department of Economic Opportunity pushed the unemployment figure down to 9 percent, the lowest number since January 2009.
The numbers released today reaffirm that Floridas employment rate has been heading in the right direction under Governor Scotts leadership, DEO Executive Director Hunting F. Deutsch stated in a release.
The figures indicate that out of a work force of 9.3 million Floridians an estimated 836,000 were jobless last month, down from 869,000 in February, when the statewide unemployment mark was 9.4 percent, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.
While the decrease in the unemployment rate in Florida is good news for our state, we must be mindful that many of our residents are still looking for work, Deutsch noted. DEO, working together with Enterprise Florida and Workforce Florida, will continue to work tirelessly to bring new jobs and more opportunities to the state.
The monthly total is 1.7 percent lower than where the state stood a year ago.
The 0.4 percent drop was also the largestone-month decline since October 1992.
The largest monthly unemployment rate decline in 20 years is a milestone all Floridians can celebrate," Scott stated in a release.
"This news comes on the heels of significant steps taken this week to make Florida the best state in the nation to live and do business. I signed Floridas education budget into law this week, with $1 billion new state education funding, and recently signed my 2012 Job Creation and Economic Growth Agenda, which lowers taxes and creates a competitive advantage for Florida businesses.
Floridas unemployment rate is declining at a much faster rate than the national unemployment rate. Clearly, were doing the right things to get our economy growing in Florida. Im going to continue doing everything in my power to make Florida the No. 1 state in the country for job growth.
The national unemployment mark stands at 8.2 percent.
The estimating conference members in predicting moderate improvements to the state's unemployment mark back in December noted, "At this point, Floridas major headwinds match the nation as a whole ..."
Still, the state continues to struggle with construction jobs, while those in the tourism and hospitality sectors continue to grow as the state approaches the end of the winter and spring vacation seasons.
State records reported the regions with the largest job gains in March were Tampa-St. Petersburg, Miami-Dade and Orlando, the same as in February.
Meanwhile, Port St. Lucie, Pensacola and Daytona Beach recorded the biggest job declines. The Daytona Beach area replaced Gainesville among the top three monthly job drops.
Across Florida, counties that have relied heavily on government jobs have held the lowest unemployment marks: 5.1 percent in Monroe County; 5.7 percent in Walton County; 6.1 percent in Okaloosa; and 6.6 percent in Alachua, Franklin and Leon counties.
The highest marks remain in counties that have seen big drops in information, government and construction jobs: 12.2 percent in Flagler County (down from 12.7 percent in February); 11.3 percent in Hernando County; and 10.9 percent in St. Lucie County.
Overall, there were 10 Florida counties with double-digit unemployment rates in March, down from 17 in February.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
