Fla. Unemployment Virtually Unchanged In September
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained fell 0.1 percent in September to 8.7 percent. The numbers reflected 808,000 Floridians out of work in the month of September and will be the final state unemployment report released before the presidential election.
Overall, the September 2012 rate was 1.7 percent less than in 2011 when the unemployment rate was 10.4 percent. Florida's unemployment rate remained nearly 1 percent higher than the U.S. unemployment rate.
Locally, the numbers showed improvement in Broward County in September. According to the state, Broward County's unemployment rate dropped from 7.9 percent to 7.5 percent from August to September.
Broward's unemployment rate in September was nearly two percent lower than in September 2011. Looking deeper in the numbers, Broward's labor force actually expanded in September 2012 by nearly 8,800 workers over the last month.
In Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate fell from 9.7 percent in August to 8.7 percent in September. Miami-Dade's unemployment rate has dropped more than 2 percent in the last year from 10.8 percent in September 2011 to 8.7 last month.
But, Miami-Dade's drop in unemployment didn't necessarily drop thanks to more jobs. In fact, Miami-Dade County's labor force shrank by just fewer than 4,000 jobs. The total number of unemployed workers in Miami-Dade dropped by nearly 10,000 in September.
However, remember the unemployment numbers only measure the unemployed workers currently on unemployment insurance. The underemployed and those who have given up looking for work are not included in the state's count.
Around the country, unemployment dropped in Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, and North Carolina while remaining unchanged in New Hampshire and Virginia. All of the states are battleground states heading into the presidential election.
