Pinellas County’s not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for September was 8.4 percent, down 2 percent compared to 10.4 percent reported for the same month in 2011.
The county’s unemployment in August was 8.7 percent.
Pinellas’ September unemployment was lower than the state’s not-seasonally adjusted rate of 8.6 percent, but still higher than the national rate of 7.6 percent. The state’s unemployment a year ago was 10.6 percent with the national rate at 8.8 percent.
Pinellas County tied with Orange County for the No. 38 position among the state’s 67 counties. Hendry County had the highest unemployment at 14.2 percent and Monroe County had the lowest at 5 percent.
Unemployment is down in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, going from 9.1 percent in August to 8.7 percent in September. Unemployment in the local MSA was 10.9 percent in September 2011.
Compared to other 23 MSA’s in the state, the local area tied with Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall for the No. 13 position. The Palm Coast MSA had the highest unemployment at 11.9 percent, and Crestview-Ft. Walton Beach-Destin had the lowest at 5.9 percent.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA is comprised of Hernando, Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. Hernando County’s September unemployment of 10.4 percent was the seventh highest in the state. Pasco County ranks No. 16 with 9.6 percent unemployment. Hillsborough County had 8.6 percent, tying with Escambia County for the No. 36 rank.
Pinellas County had the lowest unemployment rate of the counties in the local MSA in September, and the county’s labor force grew to 452,335 compared to last month at 447,818 and 448,787 in 2011.
Twelve metro areas experienced over-the-year job gains last month. The largest gain was reported in Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford with 18,000 new jobs, followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater with 11,900 new jobs and Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall with 6,400 new jobs.
Cape Coral-Ft. Myers reported 3,000 over-the-year job losses, the most in the state. Gainesville and Port St. Lucie each lost 2,800 jobs, tying for the second most job losses this year.
The number of jobs statewide was up 63,500 compared to 2011. September was the 26th consecutive month with annual job growth. The industry gaining the most jobs was professional and business services, followed by private education and health services.
Total government is leading the way for the most job losses, followed by construction.
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