Central Florida's Unemployment Rate for the Record Books February 03, 2010
Central Florida's unemployment rate remains 11.9 percent, making it the highest since June 1975, Workforce Central Florida reports.
According to the latest forecast from the Florida Economic Estimating Conference, unemployment rates for the state should peak during the April-September of 2010 before a slow, steady decline. Unemployment rates are not projected to reach 6 percent or lower again until sometime in 2016-18.
The Orlando metropolitan area experienced an over-the-year employment loss (-39,700 jobs, -3.7 percent) in December; all metro areas in the state lost jobs over the 12-month period. The only employment sector that gained jobs in Central Florida was education and health services (+200 jobs, +0.2 percent). The industry losing the most jobs during the last 12 months in Central Florida was construction, reacting to continued declines in the housing market, (-12,500 jobs, -18.6 percent).
In the Orlando metropolitan four-county area there are 973,917 employed and 131,386 unemployed residents as of December 2009.
There were 43,406 more people unemployed in December 2009 than one year ago in Central Florida. In the nine counties listed above, there were a total of 222,033 unemployed people in December 2009.