The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation released the seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers for January 2011 and found a slight decrease in the unemployment rate -- but the state continued to lag behind the rest of the nation in recovering jobs.
The unemployment rate for January 2011 stood at 11.9 percent, down from 12 percent in December, meaning 1.1 million Floridians out of a pool of 9.28 million are unemployed.
While Floridas unemployment rate is still unacceptably high, we are seeing positive signs that employers are starting to hire, said Cynthia R. Lorenzo., director of the agency, on Thursday. An increase in online advertisements for full-time jobs coupled with an increase in Floridas Consumer Confidence Index indicates that our business owners and families are increasingly optimistic about Floridas economic recovery.As Governor Scott moves forward with his bold pro-business agenda, that optimism will continue.
There are some signs of optimism despite the state losing 12,900 non-agriculture jobs since December 2010, as there were 8,400 more jobs in Florida in January 2011 than in January 2010.
But the state continued to lag behind the nations recovery. Compared to the other 49 states and the District of Columbia, Florida placed third from the bottom. Only California at 12.4 percent, and Nevada with 14.2 percent, have higher unemployment rates than the Sunshine State.
In January 2011, the national unemployment rate stood at 9.8 percent. In February 2011, the number dropped to 9.5 percent. In January 2011, the overwhelming majority of Florida communities had higher unemployment than the national average, with 52 of the states 67 counties having unemployment rates in double digits.
Liberty County in the Panhandle and Monroe County in the southern end of the state led the state with the lowest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent. They were followed by Alachua County with 8.6 percent, Wakulla County with 8.7 percent, Leon County with 8.8 percent and Okaloosa County with 8.9 percent.
Most of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates are those with relatively high proportions of government employment, noted the report put out by the agency.
Leon County contains Tallahassee, and Alachua County is the home of the University of Florida.
At 16 percent, Flagler County had the highest unemployment rate in the state. Hernando County followed with 15.1 percent unemployment while Hendry and Marion counties stood at 14.2 percent. St. Lucie County was right behind with 14.1 percent and Indian River County with 14 percent. The Agency for Workforce Innovation maintained that these counties continued to suffer long-term job losses, especially in the construction industry. More than 24,000 jobs, 6.7 percent, were lost during 2010 in the construction industry.
Some of the states metropolitan areas had higher unemployment than the rest of the state. Palm Coast, in Flagler County, led at 16 percent followed by Ocala at 14.2 percent. The only three metropolitan areas with lower unemployment rates were Tallahassee, Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin on the Panhandle and Gainesville where the University of Florida is based.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
