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.
As we head into the holiday season, its great to see we continue to move in the right direction when it comes to job creation and getting people back to work, said Governor Scott. The businesses in our state have created more than 100,000 jobs so far this year. Im going to do everything I can to keep attracting businesses here and help those here already thrive so we can continue to see this growth.
The state mark continues to remain higher than the national mark, which dipped from 9.1 percent in September to 9 percent in October.
The national mark was released Nov. 4.
Floridas steady job growth and lower unemployment numbers are encouraging, Darling stated in the release. The Department of Economic Opportunity continues to work closely with our partners at Enterprise Florida to create jobs, as well as Workforce Florida and the states 24 regional workforce boards to match job seekers with employers and help ensure a well-trained workforce for our states current and future labor needs.
In Florida, 7,268,400 were working in October, up 93,900 from a year earlier. The state has seen an increase in jobs for 13 consecutive months, following three years of decline.
Leisure and hospitality had the most growth last month, adding 39,400 jobs, followed by private education and health services, which combined for 29,200 jobs, professional and business services, 26,600 jobs, and transportation and utilities, 20,500 positions filled.
These industry job gains are partially due to increases in food services and drinking places; ambulatory health care services; employment services; clothing and accessory stores; real estate; and fabricated metal product manufacturing, the DEO stated in a release.
Fields seeing declines in October from September: Construction, 11,600 jobs; government, 8,600; and information, 4,600.
These industry job losses are partially due to losses in construction of buildings; local government; telecommunications; and repair and maintenance, the release stated.
There are 34 Florida counties with double-digit unemployment rates in October, down from 41 in September.
Liberty and Monroe counties have the states lowest unemployment rate at 6.3 percent each, followed by Walton County, 6.8 percent, Okaloosa, 7.0 percent, and Alachua and Lafayette counties, each at 7.4 percent.
Many of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates are those with relatively high proportions of government employment, the DEO release stated.
On the other end, Hendry County has the highest employment at 16.1 percent, followed by Flagler County, 14.0 percent, Hernando County at 13.0 percent, and Indian River and St. Lucie counties each at 12.7 percent.
The DEO claims state government layoffs and a relatively high percentage of agricultural employment contributed to Hendry Countys high unemployment rate.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com, (850) 727-0859, or (772) 215-9889.
