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Florida's unemployment highest since 1976

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By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 17, 2009

TAMPA - Florida's unemployment rate eked up one tenth of a percent in March to 9.7 percent, the highest level since 1976, state officials said, and up 4.3 percentage points since the same time last year.

That means 893,000 people are now out of work in Florida.

Florida's unemployment rate now stands at 1.2 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate of 8.5 percent.

Hillsborough County's unemployment rate stood at 9.9 percent in March, up from 9.8 percent in February and 5.1 percent in March 2008.

The Tampa Bay-area has unemployment of 10.4 percent, up from 10.3 percent in February and 5.4 percent in March 2008.

Flagler County, at 14.3 percent, has the highest unemployment rate in Florida in March, followed by Hernando County, 12.9 percent.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919.

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