Florida unemployment dips to 6.1% in December

A Help Wanted sign is posted at a Designer Eyes store at Brickell City Centre, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, in Miami. The number of people applying for unemployment aid jumped last week to 853,000, the most since September, evidence that some companies are cutting more jobs as new virus cases spiral higher. The Labor Department said Thursday, Dec. 10, that the number of applications increased from 716,000 the previous week. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) (Lynne Sladky, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s unemployment rate dipped slightly in December, but is still far above the unemployment rate from a year ago, according to figures released by the state on Friday.

Last month's unemployment rate was 6.1%, up 3.2 percentage points from December 2019. The national rate was 6.7%, according to the Department of Economic Opportunity. The December figure was .02% lower than November's rate.

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The state lost nearly 1.2 million jobs during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, but has regained more than half since the beginning of May, the department said in a media release.

Last month there were 614,000 jobless Floridians out of a workforce of 10.1 million people.

St. Johns and Wakulla counties had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.6% followed by Monroe County at 3.8%. Osceola County had the highest unemployment rate at 8.7%, followed by Miami-Dade County at 7.3% and Orange and Putnam Counties at 7.2%.


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