Florida Unemployment Reaches Record High

By Patrick Comer

Florida’s jobless rate has reached its highest level since the depression according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. In September of 2008 Florida had an unemployment rate of 6.7%. This September the percentage of unemployed workers in the state had climbed to 11.0%. Lee County’s rate of unemployment is well over 13%.

Michigan again recorded the highest unemployment rate among the states, 15.3 percent, in September.

Nevada                13.3 percent
Rhode Island     13.0 percent
California           12.2 percent
Florida                11.0 percent

Nevada, Rhode Island and Florida posted new highs. North Dakota saw the lowest unemployment rate at 4.2 percent. In total, 27 states registered jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 9.8 percent. Nationwide the jobless rate was little unchanged from the month before.

Florida and 8 other states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates than the national average, and 14 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.