Florida continued to see its monthly unemployment number drop, falling by 0.01 percent to 8.6 percent between April and May, the Department of Economic Opportunity reported on Friday.
The new numbers also put Florida below 800,000 jobless citizens for the first time since January 2009.
Gov. Rick Scottcredited his efforts to cut taxes, reduce regulations and attract out-of-state businesses to Florida for the continued downward trend.
As more businesses choose Florida as their home, we will continue to see more and more Floridians secure the jobs they are seeking, Scott stated in a release.
I will continue to work tirelessly on making positive changes to our business climate in Florida until we achieve my goal of making this state the No. 1 business destination in the world.
The unemployment mark is the lowest since December 2008, when the number stood at 8.2 percent.
Overall, the state estimates that 794,000 Floridians were out of work from the labor force of 9.26 million.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in May.
According to the DEO, the states 24 Regional Workforce Boards reported that more than 27,000 Floridians were placed in jobs, removing 6,298 that previously received unemployment compensation.
Additionally, Florida job postings compiled by Help Wanted OnLine totaled more than 243,000 in May 2012, with most of the openings in medical, IT, sales, and administrative support-related occupations.
The numbers released today reaffirm that Floridas unemployment rate has been heading in the right direction under Governor Scotts leadership, DEO Executive Director Hunting Deutsch stated in a release. We will continue collaborating with our partners at Enterprise Florida and Workforce Florida to create a re-employment system that produces the best work force in the nation to support Floridas growing businesses.
Among the latest numbers:
Other industries gaining jobs included trade, transportation and utilities (+21,300 jobs, +1.4 percent); private education and health services (+19,900 jobs, +1.8 percent); leisure and hospitality (+16,100 jobs, +1.7 percent); financial activities (+5,700 jobs, +1.2 percent); manufacturing (+4,900 jobs, +1.6 percent); and information (+200 jobs, +0.1 percent).
These industry job gains were partially due to increases in employment services, clothing and accessory stores, ambulatory health care services, accommodation and food services, real estate, and fabricated metal product manufacturing.
Industries losing jobs over the year included construction (-22,200 jobs, -6.6 percent), total government (-13,100 jobs, -1.2 percent), and other services (-3,900 jobs, -1.3 percent).
These industry job losses were partially due to declines in specialty trade contractors, state government, and repair and maintenance.
In May 2012, Monroe County had the states lowest unemployment rate (4.9 percent), followed by Walton County (5.3 percent), Okaloosa County (5.9 percent), Franklin County (6.1 percent), and Lafayette County (6.5 percent). Many of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates were those with relatively high proportions of government employment.
Flagler and Hendry counties had the highest unemployment rate (11.7 percent each) in Florida in May, followed by Hernando and St. Lucie counties (10.9 percent each), and Indian River County (10.4 percent). Over-the-year job losses in information, leisure and hospitality; long-term job losses in construction, and seasonal declines in agriculture contributed to the high unemployment rates. There were eight Florida counties with double-digit unemployment rates in May, up from five in April.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
