The jobless rate in the Orlando metro (Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole) area declined to 9.5 percent in December, 0.2 percent down from the 9.7 percent posted in November, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced Friday. One year ago, unemployment in the Orlando metro area was 11.5 percent.
Of the four counties, Orange recorded a jobless rate of 9.4 percent in December 2011, down by 0.3 percent from the previous month where unemployment was 9.7 percent.
Seminole County posted the lowest unemployment rate in the Orlando metro area at 8.7 percent in December, down by 0.2 percent from the previous month. The jobless rate is highest in Osceola County at 10.7 percent, although there was a decline of 0.2 percent from November’s 10.9 percent. In Lake County, the unemployment also declined by 0.2 percent, to 9.9 percent in December 2011.
Some analysts have suggested that the decline in the unemployment rate in December is related more to holiday hiring rather than any long-term trend. However, there are a number of major construction projects currently underway in Orlando, including the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and SunRail, Central Florida’s first commuter rail line, and several more in the pipeline, which could signal a longer term decline in the rate of joblessness.
Statewide, Florida’s unemployment rate declined to 9.9 percent in December, the lowest since April 2009, and a marginal drop from the 10.0 percent recorded in November 2011.
