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For the first time in more than three years Florida added almost three thousand news jobs, but even with the new jobs, the unemployment rate still rose by one tenth of a percent and as Whitney Ray tells us, more than 300 thousand Floridians are clinging to extended unemployment benefits.

Kojo Khayralla is an out-of-work truck driver. He’s been looking for work for the last nine months, with no luck.

“I been getting a few interviews, but mostly, there it ends,” said Kojo.

Starting in April, Florida’s unemployment rate fell for three straight months. But in July it went back up by a tenth of a percent to 11.5 percent. The monthly increase is being overshadowed by the first job increase in Florida since the recession began.

“This is Florida’s first gain in jobs over the year since June of 2007,” said Rebecca Rust, chief economist for AWI.

But we are still at least six years away from reaching normal employment levels. Last month Congress voted to extended unemployment pay for thousands of people who’ve run out of benefits. Those unemployment checks have been circulating for three weeks.

“The Agency for Workforce Innovation has paid more than 300 million dollars to approximately 300 thousand Floridians,” said Robby Cunningham, spokesman for AWI.

But it almost didn’t happen. The state legislature refused to clear a path for Florida to receive the extended pay. But Governor Charlie Crist issued an executive order that got the cash flowing.

The 27-hundred new jobs are a good sign, but economists say the unemployment rate will likely rise a little more before the end of the year… and if you factor in people who have stopped looking for jobs… the unemployment rate is almost 20 percent.