The unemployment rate in the Orlando Metropolitan Area (Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole) for September is 11.8 percent, slightly down from the 12.0 percent recorded in August, although the state’s jobless rate rose marginally to 11.9 percent from the 11.8 percent.
In the Orlando Metro area, there were 133,603 persons unemployed out of a labor force of 1.1 million. In September 2010, about 1,000 less persons were employed as compared with September 2009.
For Orange County alone, 72,101 persons were without work out of a labor force of 609,900, as of September 2010, and 2,685 more are unemployed, when compared to one year ago.
In Osceola County, the unemployment rate stood at 12.4 in September, down by 0.1 percent from the month before, but 0.2 percent higher than one year ago. Lake County recorded a jobless rate of 12.4 percent, a slight decline from the 12.5 posted in August 2010 and 0.2 percent higher than September 2009. Seminole Counted posted a 10.9 percent unemployment rate in September, down from the 11.2 percent the previous month and up by 0.3 percent than one year ago.
In September 2010, Liberty City had the lowest unemployment rate, 7.0 percent, followed by Walton County (7.9 percent); Okalossa County (8.0 percent); Leon County (8.2 percent); Wakulla (8.6 percent); Monroe (8.7 percent); Homes (8.8 percent) and Lafayette (9.0 percent).
Hendra county had the highest unemployment rate at 20.2 percent (20.6% in August 2010), followed by Flager, 16.3 percent (16.5% in August 2010); Indian River, 15.4 percent (16.3% in August 2010); St. Lucie, 15.5 percent (15.7% in August 2010) and Hernando County 14.8 percent (15.1% in August 2010).
Florida’s unemployment for September edged up to 11.9 percent from the 11.8 percent and 11.5 percent recorded in July and August, respectively, the Agency for Workforce Innovation (AWI) said. Despite the rise in the unemployment rate, AWI said that Florida’s annual job growth rate is up 0.4 percent, representing an increasing of 27,200 jobs from September 2009 and the third consecutive month the state is showing positive over-the-year job growth, after losing jobs for three years.
While there is annual job growth for the third straight month, 1.1 million people in Florida still cannot find jobs out of a labor force of 9.2 million. This does not include those persons who have stopped looking for work or those in the workforce who have experienced a cut back in the number of hours worked.
The U.S. Department of Labor-Bureau of Statistics reported earlier this month that the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent in September 2010, from the month before. The broad unemployment is estimated to be around 18 percent.
