Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation announces Jan unemployment in FL hit 8.6% up 1% from Dec

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http://www.floridajobs.org/

Florida’s January Employment Figures Released

TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January 2009 is 8.6 percent. This represents 800,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,256,000. The unemployment rate is 1.0 percentage point higher than the revised December rate of 7.6 percent and is up 3.6 percentage points from the January 2008 rate. The state’s current unemployment rate is 1.0 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 7.6 percent. read more...

One wonders where it is now in mid March? These figures are two months old and moreover they don't really account for:

1) People who have been unemployed so long their benefits have lapsed.
2) People who haven't bothered to apply for FL's measely $275/week benefit.
3) People who are "underemployed" taking a much lower paying job in retail or fast food to replace the higher paying skilled job(s) they lost.
4) People who have had their hours cut back and are now working less than 40 hours but enough that they can't claim unemployment.

What are we going to do to fix the unemployment crisis in Florida? It is really spiraling out of control.

Since January, I have been trying to get Central Florida’s Congressional delegation (3,7,8, and 24) and U.S. Senators (both of whom reside here in Orlando to commit to doing a bi-partisan town hall meeting somewhere in Orlando to hear people’s stories and answer the questions on what exactly they plan to do to fix this terrible economy.

I urge each of you to use your own networks to put pressure on our Federal, state, and local representatives each chance you get to establish some concrete plans to fix our economy and put Florida’s workers back to work.


Doug De Clue
Orlando, FL

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