The unemployment rate in the Orlando Metropolitan statistical Area (Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole) for August is 11.9 percent, up from the 11.4 percent and 11.8 percent recorded in June and July, respectively.
In the Orlando Metro area, there were 135,423 unemployed residents out of a labor force of 1.1 million. In August 2010, 2,312 less people were employed as compared with August 2009.
For Orange County alone, 73,363 persons were without work out of a labor force of 612,887, as of August 2010, and 6,441 more are unemployed, when compared to one year ago.
In Osceola County, the unemployment rate stood at 12.5 in August, unchanged from the month before, but 0.7 percent higher than one year ago. Lake County recorded a jobless rate of 12.4 percent, and increase of 0.4 percent from July 2010 and 0.5 percent higher than August 2009. Brevard County posted a 11.9 percent unemployment rate in August, up from 11.6 percent the previous month and up 1.1 percent than one year ago. The unemployment rate in Seminole County was 11.2 unchanged from the month before and up from the 10.5 percent in August 2009.
In August 2010, Liberty County had the lowest unemployment rate, 7.5 percent, followed by Walton County,(7.8 percent); Okaloosa County (8.0 percent); Lafayette County (8.4 percent) and Monroe County at 8.5 percent.
Hendry County had the highest unemployment rate at 20.6 percent followed by Flagler (16.4 percent); Indian River (16.2 percent); St. Lucie (15.6 percent) and Hernando County (15.0).
Meanwhile, Florida’s unemployment for August rose to 11.7 percent, the second straight month from the 11.5 percent and 11.4 percent recorded in July and June, respectively, the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) said. Notwithstanding the rise in the unemployment rate, AWI said that Florida’s annual job growth rate is up 0.4 percent, representing an increase of 29,800 jobs from August 2009 and the second consecutive month the state is showing positive over-the-year job growth after losing jobs for three years.
Although there has been annual job growth for the second straight month, it is clear that this is not happening quickly enough as a little over 1 million people in Florida still cannot find jobs out of a labor force of 9.2 million.
The US Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics said earlier this month that the number of unemployed persons, 14.9 million and the unemployment rate, 9.6 percent were little unchanged in August. From May through August, the jobless rate remained in the range of 9.5 percent to 9.7 percent.
