South Florida’s unemployment spiked in August, along with the state jobless rate, which rose to 11.7 percent in August, the state work force agency reported Friday.
Florida’s unemployment rate was 11.7 percent in August, up from 11.5 percent in July. While the state’s rate seems to be going the wrong way for an economic recovery, August also was the second consecutive month that Florida has added jobs after losing jobs for three years.
The state had an increase of 29,800 jobs from August 2009. Since July, however, the state’s employment declined by 16,000 jobs.
n Broward, the jobless rate was 10.7 percent compared with 10.4 percent in July. Palm Beach’s rate was 12.5 percent, up from 12.2 percent a month ago, and Miami-Dade’s rate was 14.4 percent compared with 13.2 percent in July.
Florida’s 11.7 percent unemployment rate for August represents 1.08 million people out of work in the state.
“Although Florida’s unemployment rate has slightly increased, there are still positive indicators of recovery. This is the second consecutive month with an increase in the number of jobs from the previous year,” said Cynthia Lorenzo, director of Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation, which reports the state and local jobless rates. “Historically, mixed signals from economic indicators during the bottom of a recession are common until the economy recovers. Fluctuations in rates of unemployment and job growth are typical examples.”
The unemployment rate tends to naturally rise as discouraged workers re-enter the job market in a recovering economy. Nationally, the number of jobs is up 0.2 percent over the year.
