Unemployment Rate: First Improvement Since '06

Today's reported drop in Florida's unemployment rate from 12.3 percent to 12 percent is better news than a seemingly minor drop of 0.3 percent might indicate. Nearly 16,000 more people found work than lost work in the month of April. That's the first time that's happened since February of 2006.

And for anyone who's keeping track, it's the first time since Gov. Charlie Crist took office in 2007 that the numbers didn't get worse.

Unfortunately, according to an AP report, brightening hopes may be tinged with a brown oil sheen come next month.

The impact of the April 20 explosion of a BP oil rig that led to millions of gallons of crude oil contaminating the Gulf and threatening the coastal areas of several coastal states was not calculated in Florida's April unemployment numbers, which remain well above the national average of 9.9 percent. The Deepwater Horizon accident occurred after AWI's survey week (April 11-17), chief economist Rebecca Rust said.

But it could figure into the May figures if tourism is adversely affected by the threat of the oil coming ashore as feared by some officials.