Florida govt. revealed that the unemployment rate in the state fell to its lowest level in October, which was in fact the lowest since 2008.
Unemployment rate fell to 8.5% in October, down from September’s 8.7 percent. The unemployment rate was 1.7% lower when compared to the horrendous 10.2% witnessed during October 2011.
Rebecca Rust, the state economist said that the construction sector had 3 months of job growth, but still it was lagging when compared to the growth in October 2011.
Rust said that they have been seeing that the monthly gains are irregular in construction.
Broward County– South Florida had a drop in unemployment rate from September’s upwardly improved 7.6 percent to 7.1 percent. Last year, it was 9 percent. Palm Beach County’s unemployment rate also fell from improved 9.3 percent in September to 8.6 percent. In 2011, Palm Beach’s jobless rate in October was 10.5%.
Mekael Teshome, an economist for PNC Financial Services Group said that the report was pretty good. The lower jobless rate in Florida shows a further job growth countrywide, while the boost in South Florida relates to the lift up in activity in the overall economy, Brazil in particular.
Teshome said that the U.S. economy is turning up from the soft patch it experienced in the beginning of the year.
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said that by comparing with last year’s employment levels, Florida had a year-over-year improvement in 23 consecutive months.
The state mainly added jobs in business services and professional segments, beverage and food establishments and in OP clinics in October.
Rust said that the employment rate in construction has been raised in recent months by extra activity in the segment. In September, housing starts in Florida rose 23% over the year. Average home prices increased to 7.4% since 2011 September.
She revealed that the participation of Florida in the labor force was increased in October, meaning to say that more public gained jobs throughout the month.
She sad that the broader unwaged rate (including warned workers and those who work part-time and still need full-time jobs) fell to 16.4% in October when compared to last month’s 17% and 18.2% last year.
Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said that the state further added almost 12,100 new private-segment jobs.
DEO said that the state’s unemployment dropped by 2.6 percent thanks to addition of around 174,500 private-sector jobs since December 2010.