Florida's jobless rate hits record, Tampa fares better

Florida's jobless rate hit a record high for the third month in a row as unemployment rates slightly improved locally.

Florida's rate edged up to 12.3 percent in March. The Tampa Bay area's rate improved in March, although it remained higher than the state rate.

The seasonally adjusted rate represents more than 1.3 million jobless workers in Florida, according to a report released Friday by Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Despite the statewide record high, each of the four counties grouped in the Tampa Bay area posted reduced unemployment rates in March. But the agency cautioned against reading too much into local improvements since the numbers aren't seasonally adjusted.

"It would be best to say the situation remains unchanged," said Rebecca Rust, the agency's chief economist.

Nevertheless, there was some good news: Online job posting rose 10.4 percent from the previous month. This is the largest month-over-month gain since the series began in 2005. The gain was the largest of the 10 most populous states.

"Florida's job market continues to show signs of improvement with job losses moderating and new job listings increasing," said Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo. "We continue to see encouraging indicators that Florida's economy is on the road to recovery."

The Tampa Bay area, which includes Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties, had a March unemployment rate of 12.7 percent. That's down from 13.2 percent in February, but up from 10.1 percent from March 2009. County data are not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Both Florida and the Tampa Bay area have been hit hard by the economic downturn, and unemployment rates are higher than the national rate, which was 9.7 percent in March.

As high as the rate is, it doesn't tell the whole story, said Rust. The rate doesn't include job seekers who now have part-time jobs or have given up searching for jobs, she said. If those workers were included, Florida's unemployment rate would increase by about 8 percent, Rust said.

"That would bring the rate to over 20 percent," she said. "There are 4.9 job seekers for every one job advertised on the Internet in Florida."

The industry losing the most jobs remains construction. There were 57,000 jobs lost in the past year, for a decrease of 13.7 percent, according to the report.

Other industries losing jobs over the year include leisure and hospitality (28,800 jobs lost, or 3.1 percent); manufacturing (26,100 jobs lost, or 7.8 percent) and financial activities (24,600 jobs lost, or 5 percent).

"The in-demand jobs are registered nurses, physical therapists and managers of retail sales," Rust said.

Alex Miron, an associate economist with Moody's Economy.com said he expects to see Florida's unemployment rate get worse before it gets better.

"We expect housing price declines to continue," he said. "As this continues, it will be difficult for housing-related industries to create jobs."

This is particularly a problem for Florida, he said, because the state's housing boom resulted in an increase of construction jobs. The state's housing correction has been severe, taking away many of those jobs.

Nationally, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania recorded sizable gains in employment in March and were among 33 states posting increases.

The U.S. Department of Labor said Maryland led the country with a gain of 35,800 payroll jobs last month. Virginia and Pennsylvania also posted increases that topped 20,000 in the month. Michigan continued to have the highest unemployment rate at 14.1 percent, and led the country in job losses in March with a decline of 9,500. Seventeen states recorded job losses during the month.

The national unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7 percent in March while payrolls grew by 162,000, the biggest gain in three years.