By Lynn Hatter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-969851.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Florida's unemployment rate has dropped to under a million for the first time since September of 2009. The rate has been dropping for the last four months, but at 10.8 percent, it's still higher than the nine-percent the national average. Lynn Hatter reports that's still lower than the state peak unemployment rate of more than 12-percent.
The labor force decreased by seven thousand people last month, but the Agency for Workforce Innovations Chief Economist Rebecca Rust says the dip in the unemployment rate represents real job growth over the year.
"When you look at this labor force indicator over the year, the numbers look very, very good. The number of unemployed is down by 44-thousand, employment is up by 83-thousand. So looking at the year ago indicators, it looks like most of those have been impacted by gains in employment."
Florida's tourism industry is leading the job growth, but it's not equally spread across the state. Monroe, Liberty, Walton Alachua and Leon County had unemployment rates at or below seven percent. Flagler, Miami, Hernando, Hendry and St. Lucie all top 12-percent due to the slumping housing market.