Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly In September
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Miami-Dade County and Broward County both saw some improvement in the jobs front, according to numbers released Friday by the Department of Economic Opportunity.
Statewide, Florida saw unemployment drop to 10.6 percent, which is still significantly above the national average of 8.8 percent.
One element lost in the numbers was that Florida's overall workforce is quickly disappearing.
For example, using seasonally adjusted numbers, the workforce in Florida dropped by 14,000 workers from August to September.
This means that 14,000 people have either given up looking for jobs, moved out of state, or something else.
Another element not revealed by the raw numbers is how many of the jobs created were career-type jobs, or simply temporary or part-time jobs.
In Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate dropped by nearly one percent, from 12.6 percent to 11.5 percent, according to state numbers.
But, the labor force in Miami-Dade County also shrank by more than 1,500 jobs from August to September.
All total, Miami-Dade County saw 12,644 jobs added and 1,614 people leave the labor force completely.
In Broward County, the unemployment dropped just 0.2 percent from 9.5 percent to 9.3 percent. All total, Broward County added just 3,011 total jobs in September.
Monroe County added just 647 jobs in the month of September, but only lost 26 people off the unemployment roll in the month. Monroe's unemployment rate stayed the same in September, standing at 6.7 percent.
Monroe County's unemployment remained the best in the state in September.
Once the people who have given up looking for work and others into the formula, Miami-Dade County had an unemployment rate of 19.6 percent; Broward County had a rate of 17.4 percent; and Monroe had 14.8 percent.
