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Highlands Today

Unemployment rate drops in Highlands

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Special to Highlands Today

Published: May 24, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - The unemployment rate for April in Highlands County dropped, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The percentage of those not working in Highlands last month was 8.9. The rate was 9.4 percent in March.

In April 2008, the rate was 5.2.

Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April 2009 is 9.6 percent. This represents 885,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,239,000.

The unemployment rate is 0.2 percentage point lower than the revised March rate of 9.8 percent and is up 4.0 percentage points from the April 2008 rate.

The state's current unemployment rate is 0.7 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate of 8.9 percent.

Last month's revised unemployment rate of 9.8 percent was the highest rate recorded under the current methodology since 1976. When comparing all time periods, the last time the unemployment rate was higher than March 2009 was December 1975 when it was 10.0 percent (calculated under a different methodology used prior to 1976).

Florida's total nonagricultural employment in April 2009 is 7,451,000, representing a job loss of 380,300, or -4.9 percent compared to April 2008. This is steeper than the national over-the-year rate of decline for April which is -3.8 percent. The April 2009 job loss continues the trend of over-the-year declines that began in August 2007. The downturn started with declines in construction jobs, but has now spread to almost all other major industries.

"Under the leadership of Governor Charlie Crist, the Agency is working diligently to assist Floridians in need," said agency Interim Director Cynthia Lorenzo. "In addition to the agency's wide variety of critical programs and services, we are currently administering $1.4 billion in federal stimulus funds through Florida's unemployment compensation and workforce programs."

The $1.4 billion in stimulus funds currently being infused into the state's unemployment compensation and workforce systems includes the following:

An additional $25 weekly in Federal Additional Compensation since March 19, 2009 - to date, more than $108.5 million in Federal Additional Compensation has been paid to nearly 569,000 Floridians. It is estimated that $345 million will be paid out by July 2010.

Nearly $1 billion in additional federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits - eligible claimants began qualifying last month under the new provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. So far, more than $37.5 million has been distributed to nearly 80,000 claimants.

$165 million in workforce services - these funds are being used to meet the needs of local communities for enhanced job placement and job training services, including summer youth programs, adult employment programs that match job seekers with businesses and additional services at One-Stop Career Centers.

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