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Unemployment Rate Drops In Three County Area
May 17, 2014
The latest job numbers released Monday show the unemployment level dropping in the North Escambia area.
Escambia County’s unemployment rate dropped from 6.7 percent in March to 5.9 percent in April. There were 8,149 people reported unemployed during the period. One year ago, unemployment in Escambia County was 7.0 percent.
Santa Rosa County unemployment also decreased, from 5.7 to 5.0 percent from March to Apriil. Santa Rosa County had a total of 3,690 persons still unemployed. The year-ago unemployment rate in Santa Rosa County was 6.4 percent.
In Escambia County, Alabama, unemployment increased fell from 8.7 percent in March to 7.9 percent in April. That represented 1,087 people unemployed in the county during the month.
Florida’s unemployment rate ticked down slightly in April.
The jobless rate was 6.2 percent last month, down from 6.3 percent in March. The rate has been relatively flat in recent months — it also was 6.2 percent in February — but it is significantly lower than the 7.6 percent rate in April 2013.
Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign focuses heavily on arguments that he has added jobs and improved the economy since taking office in January 2011. He also uses that message to attack Democratic front-runner Charlie Crist, a former governor who was in office as Florida struggled through the national economic recession.
Scott issued a statement Friday touting the new numbers, which he said included creating more than 33,000 private-sector jobs.
Despite Scott’s focus on private-sector jobs, a detailed release from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity pointed to large concentrations of government workers as helping hold down jobless rates in some areas.
“Many of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates were those with relatively high proportions of government employment,” the department said in the release.
Alabama’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, at 6.9percent in April, was up from March’s rate of 6.7 percent and was above the year-ago rate of 6.5 percent.
The jobless numbers released by Florida and Alabama do not include persons that have given up on finding a job and are no longer reported as unemployed.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Comments
7 Responses to “Unemployment Rate Drops In Three County Area”
David has some really great points!
You can also check your local temp agencies to see if they are hiring. If you lack computer skills check out the local library for free classes. I have found that it is easier to find a job when you already have one. That means take a lower paying crap job to look more desirable to another employer. Sometimes you have to do that to get ahead. Check the fast food restaurants as they are always hiring. Small stores like Family Dollar or Dollar General are hiring. Go to Walmart. There are jobs out there but no one wants to take them. I’ve been there before and worked in fast food as an adult. It was the worst job I’ve ever had.
If you don’t have your degree see about getting a free grant to go back to school to make yourself more marketable. There is something to do. You just have to look for it.
@David Huie Green = Thank you for that info. Will check it out.
@Billy Ray jr = Subway in Century and Gonzalez, Tom Thumb, Dollar General and a few others have told me “Over Qualified”..
I have been told more times than I want to hear. They look at my job history (2 Jobs my entire life of working from age 18 & now 44) I have never been a job bouncer and that is not helping me, instead hindering.
Oh, and I am not collecting unemployment compensation, so I am not living off the system.
Contracts get under bid and companies often look out for themselves and not the people that have been there for years! So Lay Off is only clear way they see for not winning the contract again .. that Bites!
unemployed,
I saw a help wanted sign in the window of subway sandwich shop on Corry Station.
Unemployment is not calculated from unemployment benefits.
It is taken from a poll of homes randomly selected and changing and includes questions such as:
How many in your home are employed?
How many are employed but are seeking or wanting employment?
People not wanting employment are not considered unemployed: underage children, students, retired folks.
People who wish employment are considered unemployed even if they have no job skills, no work ethic and nobody in his right mind would consider hiring them. (Example: high school dropout with shaky hands and poor eyesight and drug addictions who want to be brain surgeons are unemployed — and should be.)
Regarding the question Where the jobs?
Everyone you see working has a job. That’s where the jobs are.
Do they need more workers? Ask.
Can you do the job? If yes, apply. If no, can you learn to do the job? If yes and you are willing to do the work to get the job, have at it. If no, look elsewhere.
The school district needs bus drivers/operators. This requires passing drug test, passing a physical, getting a CDL-B, with school bus endkrsement. If you meet the first two but lack the third, they will train you free of charge. If you want to be hired permanently, you also bave to be tobacco-free, but substututes don’t have that restriction.
If that doesn’t look like your cup of tea, check with others for job openings and requirements. Pay special attention to the jobs you think you might enjoy but note that jobs people do NOT enjoy doing are most likely to have openings and pay more. (Which makes one wonder why there are ALWAYS openings for bus operators.)
Best of luck.
David for open eyes
Please, Please tell me where the jobs are. I would like to know who is hiring. Been unemployed for over a year now and no end in sight … only thing left to lose is the House!
Michelle, you are absolutely correct. When your in either an election year or a mid-term election year, all the sudden the numbers get skewed by dropping people from the calculations. There are a lot of self employed in Alabama that lost everything as well that they don’t calculate. To get a real view at unemployment, lets compare total income tax per quarter that is reported by business. When a business files quarterly returns, they include the number of employees. So the state knows exactly how many are employed right now compared to 4 months ago, 8 months ago, a year, 10 years etc… It’s simple to figure when you have the data. They only report how many have filed for new claims. Makes them look better for a mid-term election.
Dropping people from unemployment compensation after a set period is how they look at unemployment figures going down. Since they can no longer collect it, it makes it look like less people are needing it.
Things are NOT getting better. If so where are these new jobs coming from? What sector? Where even?