Contact Palm Beach Business.com by phone: 561 450-8258. By email.

Jobless rates dip in Florida, Palm Beach County

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Unemployment continued to dip statewide and in Palm Beach County, according to the latest report from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

The March jobless numbers, released Friday, show Florida’s unemployment rate dropping to 9.0 percent from 9.1 percent in February. In March 2011, the unemployment rate sat at 10.5 percent.

Those numbers are adjusted for seasonal factors that affect the job market.

In Palm Beach County, the rate dropped to 8.8 percent from 9.2 percent in February and 10.6 percent a year earlier. The actual number of unemployed dropped to 54,268 from 56,987 in February and 89,824 a year earlier.

County numbers are not adjusted for seasonal factors, and the large local drop is likely due to seasonal hiring as the winter tourist season peaks. The year-over-year drop is a better measure of the improvement in the job market.

In Broward County, the rate dropped to 7.5 percent in March from 7.9 percent a month earlier and 9.1 percent a year earlier.

Florida added 89,800 jobs in the 12 months through March. Top hiring sectors included trade, transportation and utilities, up 30,400; private education and health care, up 24,800; leisure and hospitality, up 23,000. Three of the nine sectors had net losses of jobs, including construction, down 13,500; total government, down 12,000 and; information, down 700.