Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February was 11.5 percent, down 0.4 percentage point from January's 11.9 percent, according to the latest data from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The new unemployment rate represents 1,068,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,265,000.

Osceola County's unemployment rate for February (not-seasonally-adjusted) was 11.9 percent, down a full percentage point from January's 12.9 percent. This represents 16,718 unemployed out of a labor force of 140,993.

The jobless rate for the Orlando metropolitan area, which includes Lake, Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties, was down a full percentage point as well, dropping to 10.8 percent in February compared to January's 11.8 percent. This represents 121,152 jobless out of a labor force of 1,120,020.

According to Workforce Innovation, the Orlando metropolitan area added 11,400 jobs in February, and 22,900 jobs during the prior year.

Orange County's jobless rate fell a full percentage point as well, going from 11.7 percent in January to 10.7 percent in February. Polk County's jobless rate fell even more, going from 12.8 percent in January to 11.7 percent in February.

“This decrease in Florida’s unemployment rate, combined with continued job growth, is welcome news and provides additional evidence that our economy is getting back on track,” said Agency for Workforce Innovation Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo. “We will continue our commitment to ensuring Florida’s workforce system meets the dynamic needs of our existing and future employers so that we can build on this momentum.”

Manpower employment outlook

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the second quarter of 2011 indicates Florida employers expect to hire at a steady pace in the months ahead. Of employers surveyed, 14 percent plan to hire more workers between April and June, while 76 percent plan to maintain their current staff levels, a slight improvement over the survey results for the first quarter of the year.

Florida’s nonagricultural employment by industry (seasonally adjusted)

The number of jobs in Florida is 7,184,200 in February, up 32,700 jobs compared to a year ago. February is the fifth consecutive month with positive annual job growth since the state started losing jobs in July 2007.

The industry gaining the most jobs is leisure and hospitality (+26,100 jobs, +2.9 percent).

Other industries gaining jobs include education and health services (+23,600 jobs, +2.2 percent); professional and business services (+9,800 jobs, +1.0 percent); trade, transportation, and utilities (+4,300 jobs, +0.3 percent); and other services (+1,300 jobs, +0.4 percent).

These industry job gains are partially due to increases in food services and drinking places; ambulatory health care services; employment services; motor vehicle and parts dealers; and repair and maintenance.

Industries losing jobs over the year include: construction (-15,800 jobs, -4.5 percent); financial activities (-8,000 jobs, -1.7 percent); manufacturing (-5,600 jobs, -1.8 percent); information (-2,300 jobs, -1.7 percent); and total government (-900 jobs, -0.1 percent).

These industry job losses are partially due to weakness in specialty trade contractors; credit intermediation and related activities and insurance carriers and related activities; miscellaneous durable goods manufacturing; publishing; and federal government.

Local Area unemployment statistics (not seasonally adjusted)

In February, Monroe County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate (6.9 percent), followed by Liberty County (7.1 percent); Alachua County (7.7 percent); Leon and Wakulla counties (7.9 percent each); and Okaloosa County (8.1 percent). Most of the counties with the lowest unemployment rates are those with relatively high proportions of government employment.

Flagler County had the highest unemployment rate (14.9 percent) in Florida in February, followed by Hernando County (13.9 percent); Hendry County (13.4 percent); Marion County (13.2 percent); and St. Lucie County (13.0 percent). Flagler County, as well as most of the other areas with the highest unemployment rates, continues to suffer long-term job losses, mainly in construction. There are 43 Florida counties with double-digit unemployment rates in February, down from 52 in January.

Area Nonagricultural Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

Fourteen metro areas of the 22 in the state have over-the-year job gains in February. The areas with the largest gains are Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (+22,900 jobs, +2.3 percent), Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall (+9,400 jobs, +1.0 percent), and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (+6,300 jobs, +0.6 percent).

Of the metro areas with job declines, the areas with the largest losses are Cape Coral-Ft. Myers (-3,000 jobs, -1.5 percent), Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville (-2,000 jobs, -1.0 percent), Sebastian-Vero Beach (-1,100 jobs, -2.5 percent), and Ocala (-1,000 jobs, -1.1 percent).