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Jobless rates drop in Palm Beach, Broward counties

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — The good news from Friday’s jobs report from the Agency for Workforce Innovation: Unemployment held steady last month at the state level while falling in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

The bad news: This might be as good as it gets for the next year or so.

Florida’s jobless rate for August held at 10.7 percent, same as in July, but down from the 11.6 percent reported in a year earlier. The number unemployed workers dropped slightly, to 987,000 from 988,000 a month earlier and from 1.071 million in August 2010.

Palm Beach County’s rate slipped to 11.0 percent from July’s 11.2 percent and 12.3 percent a year earlier. The number out of work: 68,573, down from 69,761 in July and 76,799 a year ago.

“It’s encouraging to note that Palm Beach County experienced its largest over-the-year employment increase of 2011, adding 8,100 jobs over the last 12 months, and job openings have increased 12.6 percent compared to this same time last year,” said Steve Craig, interim CEO of Workforce Alliance, the lead work force development agency in Palm Beach County.

State numbers are adjusted for seasonal factors that influence employment rates; county numbers are unadjusted.

In Broward County, the rate similarly dropped to 9.5 percent in August, down from 9.7 percent in July and 10.5 percent a year earlier. The number out of work dropped to 93,791, down from 95,904 in July and 104,116 a year ago.

AWI Economist Rebecca Rust said state economists project the unemployment rate to rise above 11 percent mark next year as the federal government cuts spending to reduce the deficit and as workers who stopped seeking work return to the job market. The rate is expected to fall to 10.6 percent by the end of the 2012.