Osceola County's unemployment rate for March (not-seasonally-adjusted) was 11.3 percent, down from February's 11.9 percent and down from 12.3 percent in March 2010, according to the latest report from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. This represents 16,009 unemployed workers out of a labor force of 141,396.

The jobless rate for the Orlando metropolitan area, which includes Lake, Osceola, Orange and Seminole counties, was 10.4 percent, down from 10.8 percent in February.

Orange County's jobless rate was 10.3 percent; Lake County's was 10.9 percent; and Seminole County was 9.7 percent. Polk County, Osceola County's other neighbor that is not in the metro-area, had a 11.3 percent jobless rate.

Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March was 11.1 percent, down 0.4 percentage point from February's 11.5 percent. The new state unemployment rate represents 1,030,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,251,000.

The nationwide jobless rate for March was 9.2 percent, down from 9.5 percent in February and 10.2 percent in March 2010.