NO. 9: COUNTY UNEMPLOYMENT RATE CLIMBS TO 9 PERCENT

SEBRING Like most areas of the state and the country, Highlands County saw its unemployment rate rise substantially in 2008.

At the end of November, the county's unemployment rate had risen to 9 percent, compared to 5.6 percent a year earlier, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Statewide, Florida's unemployment rate is 7.3 percent, up 2.9 percentage points from a year ago and the state's highest rate since June 1993.

Job losses in Highlands County have been spread throughout the local economy, according to Roger Hood, president and CEO of Heartland Workforce, which runs the Highlands County One-Stop Career Center at 2726 US 27 N. in Sebring.

"We aren't seeing a definitive hiring or termination pattern in any career field or industry right now," he said. "But it appears that more folks have been hired in service-related jobs and agricultural type jobs in the last couple of months."

Highlands County's 9 percent rate ranks 46th among the state's 67 counties, well below Hendry County, the hardest hit with an 11.9 percent unemployment rate.

"The question I keep receiving from a lot of people is, will it climb above 9 percent (in Highlands County)?," Hood said. "My best guess is that it will go slightly above 9 percent, but I think, and I'm hoping, it won't hit 10 percent."

Hood said the unemployment statistics don't tell the full picture, because they don't reflect people who are "under-employed."

"A lot of folks that have lost jobs have taken lower paid jobs," he said. "How many people do we have in that situation? There's no way of counting. But I would estimate that a number of people right now are working entry-type positions who have the skill sets that should equate to higher wage jobs."

Another sign of the tough times, Hood said, is that some employers are asking the One-Stop Career Center to provide qualified candidates for jobs but not to post the openings on the statewide job listing service, www.EmployFlorida.com.

"That is very crucial now, for folks to have their resume on file with us, because if they don't see a job posted, they could still be missing out," he said.