Miami-Dade Unemployment Hits 13.6%
MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) - More and more people are having a tough time finding work in Miami-Dade.
Preliminary numbers released Monday by the county's Office of Economic Development and International Trade, indicate that Miami-Dade has hit a new high unemployment rate of 13.6 percent after seasonal adjustment.
But not all the news is bad. Since August, 2009, when employment bottomed out at 1,109,00, there has been modest growth; it now stands at 1,124,000.
However over the same period however, the labor force grew by more than 56,000 workers, which meant that 41, 000 weren't able to find employment. In December alone, the labor force grew by over 7,000 people, resulting in a net increase of 4,700 in the ranks of the unemployed.
Another bit of good news is the number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time. In December the number of people first time claims was 230 more than in November. But December's 10,280 initial claims were more than 11% below the number filed in December 2009.
While unemployment continues to hit minorities and the lesser educated the hardest, national unemployment rate declined in December among all race/ethnic groups. Teen unemployment rose, however.
