Polk's jobless rate down again
News Chief wire services
Polk County's unemployment rate decreased for a third consecutive month in April.
The county's unemployment rate was 10.8 percent last month, down from 11.6 percent the year before, and 11.3 percent in March, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
And for the first time in more than a year and a half, fewer than a million Floridians were unemployed as the state's jobless rate dropped for the fourth straight month to 10.8 percent in April, state officials said Friday.
Florida's jobless rate fell slightly from 11.3 percent a year ago, and 11.1 percent in March. About 996,000 people statewide were without work in April, but it was the first time the number of unemployed residents was below 1 million since October 2009.
Florida had annual job growth of 0.5 percent in April, marking the seventh consecutive month of year-to-year growth.
"This is the fourth straight month of decline in Florida's unemployment rate and the lowest rate in more than a year and a half -- very encouraging for Florida's employers and job seekers," said Cynthia Lorenzo, director of the state's workforce agency, in a prepared statement.
The April unemployment rate is Florida's lowest in 19 months, but still 1.8 percentage points above the national rate of 9 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate was down from 9.8 percent the year before and up slightly from 8.8 percent in March.
In all, 996,000 Floridians were out of work. The last time that number was below a million was October 2009.
Florida's April rate is more than a full percentage point below December's 12 percent figure.
"I remain focused on job creation, so it is great news that this trend is continuing in the right direction," Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement. "I believe we are on the path to getting Florida back to work."
The Republican governor made "Let's get back to work" has campaign slogan last year. He has promised to create 700,000 new jobs in seven years over and above the million jobs Florida is expected to add as its economy recovers over that span.
Florida added 14,900 jobs in April, although that represents only a 0.2 percent increase in the state's labor force. Over the year from April to April the state added 39,200 jobs, an increase of just 0.5 percent. April, though, marked the seventh consecutive month Florida has had an over-the-year increase in jobs.
Unemployment claims also have been trending down as Florida slowly recovers from a housing bust and the Great Recession that followed.
Initial claims were 75,648 in April. That's down 22.3 percent compared to a year ago.
Another sign of improvement has been an increase in online job postings compiled by the state. They were up by 36,085 jobs last month over April 2010. The most common online ads were for health care practitioners, technical occupations, sales, administrative support and management.
The state's economic recovery, though, has been spotty.
Only nine of Florida's 22 metropolitan areas had over-the-year job gains in April. Those with the biggest increases were the Orlando, Miami and Tampa Bay areas.
The largest over-the-year loss -- 4,600 jobs, or 2.3 percent -- came in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville area on Florida's Space Coast, which is suffering from the phase-out of the space shuttle program.
Monroe County, which includes the Florida Keys, had the state's lowest unemployment rate in April at 6.3 percent.
It was followed by Liberty County, 6.5 percent; Walton County, 6.8 percent; Alachua County, 6.9 percent, and Leon County, 7 percent.
Flagler County had the highest rate at 13.2 percent. Then it was Hendry County, 12.8 percent and St. Lucie County, 12.3 percent. Flagler's job losses are mainly in construction, which is the case statewide.
The good news is only 32 Florida counties had double-digit unemployment rates in April compared to 38 in March.
Kyle Kennedy of the NYT Regional Media Group and Bill Kaczor contributed to this report.