January's Jobless Numbers A Mixed Bag
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) - January's unemployment numbers are virtually unchanged from those of December 2010, but there is some good news in the report.
According to Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation, the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 11.9 percent, down from 12 percent in December; this breaks down to more than a million people are out of work in workforce of more than 9 million. This represents 1,100,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,276,000.
While the total number of non-agricultural jobs in January 2011 was nearly 13,000 fewer than in December, over the course of the year jobs are up by 8,400, an increase of 0.1 percent from January 2010.
"While Florida's unemployment rate is still unacceptably high, we are seeing positive signs that employers are starting to hire," said Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo in a written statement. "An increase in online advertisements for full-time jobs coupled with an increase in Florida's Consumer Confidence Index indicates that our business owners and families are increasingly optimistic about Florida's economic recovery."
January was the fourth consecutive month with positive annual job growth since the state started losing jobs in July 2007. The industry gaining the most jobs is leisure and hospitality; up 32,600 jobs or 3.6 percent.
The construction, financial and professional business services sectors all lost jobs. These job losses were partially due to weakness in specialty trade contractors, insurance carriers, telecommunications; local government and business support services.
Miami-Dade was one of only 13 metro areas in the state to post over-the-year job gains in January 2011. According to the Department of Labor, the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall area had a gain of more than 6,000 jobs, up .6 percent for the year.
The area with the largest gain is Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, which added 20,400 jobs, up 2.1 percent.
Specifically, the unemployment rate showed an improvement and went down from December where it was at 13.1%. January's number show that unemployment rate is at 12%.
Broward County's numbers were not as positive as it showed a increase in the unemployment rate, which went up .3% , reflecting a rate of 10.5%.
Click here for the complete unemployment rate release.
In January 2011, Liberty and Monroe counties have the state's lowest unemployment rate with 7.6
percent each.
The unemployment ranking statewide showed that Flagler County has the highest unemployment rate (16.0 percent) in Florida in January 2011. Miami-Dade is in the 32nd spot out of 67 counties, a less positive spot than Broward County, which is ranked 49 on the list. Monroe County is at the bottom of the list, ranking 67 out of 67 counties.
