Unemployment in Florida stood at 10.3 percent in October, the lowest point in more than two years, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday.

Overall, 931,000 Floridians were listed as out of work, down from 984,000 a month earlier, when the unemployment rate for Florida was 10.6 percent.

With a net increase of 9,500 jobs since September, 106,900 since January, the new numbers are seen as encouraging by Gov. Rick Scott and DEO Director Doug Darling.

With Florida atop or near atop the list of foreclosure-ridden states, lawmakers on Thursday began looking again at ways to speed up the handling of foreclosure cases that now can take two years or more to wind their way through the courts.

Florida's requirement that foreclosure cases go before a judge continues to slow the process, according to a Senate interim report and statistics compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association, which on Thursday released its latest findings on foreclosures and delinquent loans.