Florida's unemployment rate drops to 8.7% in April
Stay up to date on South Florida news! Click here to subscribe for email news updates from BrowardNETOnline.comFlorida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in April 2012, the lowest since January 2009 when it was also 8.7 percent. There were 804,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of 9,255,000. The April 2012 rate fell 0.3 percentage point from the month-ago rate of 9.0 percent and was 1.9 percentage points lower than the year-ago rate of 10.6 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in April.
Florida’s seasonally adjusted total nonagricultural employment was 7,325,300 in April 2012, a loss of 2,700 jobs (less than 0.1 percent) over the month. The number of jobs in the state was up 52,600 over the year, an increase of 0.7 percent from April 2011. Nationally, the number of jobs was up 1.4 percent over the year.
“With 243,594 Florida job openings listed by various help-wanted websites, we are seeing positive trends of job creation by companies and employers throughout our state. Florida’s jobless rate moved to its lowest point in more than three years and is a clear sign we are moving Florida in a direction that gives businesses and job creators the confidence they need to grow and expand,. I look forward to continuing to implement my job creation and economic development agenda to further grow Florida’s economy.”
Click the charts to see Florida’s job growth this year:
