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Unemployment remains high in Palm Beach County

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Unemployment in Palm Beach County and statewide remained essentially flat in July, according to the latest jobs report released Friday by Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The jobless rate for Palm Beach County inched higher to 11.2 percent in July from 11.0 percent in June but down substantially from the 12.3 percent posted in July 2010. The number of unemployed rose to 69,674 in July from 68,245 a month earlier.

County rates are not adjusted for seasonal factors, and the Palm Beach County rate tends to rise during the summer months with schools out, tourism down and agriculture at a lull before the beginning of the fall growing season.

The statewide rate remained at 10.7 percent, same as in June but down from the 11.5 percent reported a year ago. A slight caveat: the June rate originally was reported at 10.6 percent but was revised higher. The number of workers out of work: 987,000, up from 984,000 in July a year ago.

State numbers, unlike the county, are adjusted for seasonal factors.

The Broward rate was 9.6 percent, same as in June, but down from the 10.4 percent recorded a year ago.

Agency economist Rebecca Rust said the increase in the number of unemployed during a recovery isn’t unusual, and that a month’s worth of data isn’t necessarily significant. “We’ll have to wait sever more months to see what the trend is.”

State economists don’t see the unemployment rate dropping to 10 percent until the end of 2012, according to the current forecast. However, economists are scheduled to update the forecast in September.