For the third straight month, Florida's unemployment rate is at 10.7 percent -- well above the national rate of 9.1 percent.
According to the numbers released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 1,400 fewer unemployed people in August than in July, but the labor force decreased by around 19,600 people -- leaving the total unemployment rate virtually the same.
The actual number of jobs in the state, however, went up by around 9,900, which -- to no surprise -- is the statistic the state jobs agency focused on:
"An increase of nearly 10,000 jobs since last month is another positive indication that Florida's employers are gaining confidence, people are getting back to work, and our state is making progress under Governor Scott's leadership," said AWI Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo. "With the launch next month of the Department of Economic Opportunity, we are taking a bold step to position Florida as the number one state in the nation to do business and create jobs."
There were still 987,000 without a job in the labor force of 9,201,000 people in August, compared to 988,400 people unemployed out of the 9,220,700-person labor force in July.
Manufacturing jobs went down over the past month, from 307,400 in July to 306,600 in August, and government, construction, information, as well as education and health services jobs also decreased.
The state labor agency explains those losses by saying they are "partially due to losses in federal government which employed temporary census workers last year; construction of buildings; telecommunications; and miscellaneous manufacturing."
The industries in the state that saw jobs increases were trade and transportation, financial activities, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality.
There are 42 Florida counties with double-digit unemployment rates in August, according to the state jobs agency.
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