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Highlands Today

Unemployment Rate In Highlands Dropped A Bit In December

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Special to Highlands Today

Published: January 20, 2008

TALLAHASSEE — Highlands County's unemployment rate dropped slightly in December, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The percentage of unemployed was 4.9 last month. It was 5.1 percent in November of last year. Highlands' rate in December 2006 was 3 percent.

Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in December 2007, representing 441,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,312,000. Florida's unemployment rate was up by 0.4 percentage point over the month and up by 1.4 percentage points over the year.

The national unemployment rate was 5.0 percent in December 2007. The December 2007 rate of 4.7 percent was the highest rate since September 2004, which was also 4.7 percent. Florida had the fourth lowest unemployment rate of the ten most populous states, based on the latest nationwide data, and has been below the national average since mid-2002.

Florida's nonagricultural employment growth rate was 1.1 percent in December, representing a gain of 85,800 new jobs over the year, to reach a total employment level of 8,155,400. This was 0.1 percentage point above the national job growth rate for December. The November and December 2007 job growth rates of 1.1 percent were the slowest for the state since November 2003.

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