A Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University (aka RISEP) report released on Friday says that in Florida, for every person that found a job in 2010, another 25 were still waiting to get back to work.
The report indicates that Florida’s unemployment rate is 12 percent, just below the 12.3 percent historical high reached in March of last year.
It also states that the number of jobs increased in Florida by 0.6 percent during 2010. That is an addition of 43,500 jobs while 1.1 million people remain unemployed.
Data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that at the national level “the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 9.0 percent in January, while nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+36,000).”
The bureau data also shows that “employment rose in manufacturing and in retail trade but was down in construction and in transportation and warehousing. Employment in most other major industries changed little over the month.”
The RISEP report also indicates that in Florida during 2010, over one-third of the unemployed had been out of work for longer than a year, and nearly half were unemployed for at least six months. As of December 2010 in the U.S. the average length of unemployment was 34 weeks.
According to the RISEP report the state also saw a drop in employment in the construction, information and manufacturing industries as well as financial, government and professional and business services. The number of jobs grew in the education, health, leisure and hospitality sectors.
