Welcome to

10,800 New Jobs in March

Florida’s unemployment rate dropped four-tenths of a percent in March. That is the single biggest month to month drop in more than 20 years. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the uptick is sending optimism through some sectors of the economy.

More signs like this are popping up. Florida added 10, 800 jobs in March.

90 thousand more people are working in Florida than a year ago. Trade, transportation and utilities accounted for one of every three new jobs. March marked the twentieth consecutive month of job gains.

“Well, the recession is over,” state labor economist Rebecca Rust. “We’re certainly in recovery. But we would still consider it a modest recovery, when you look at historical standard.”

Hotels, restaurants and bars are also showing solid gains.

The industry is cautiously optimistic.

“We’re not where we were four years ago,” Lauren Searcy with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “Still, these numbers are really great. We’re glad that there’s an upswing, but we’re still not where we need to be.”

836 thousand Floridians do remain out of work.

Construction, state government, and telecommunications have all lost jobs.

The state continues to trail the nation in job creation. Gregory Dean has been looking for a construction job for the last four months.

Reporter: Any Luck?

“No,” Dean said.

Reporter: Any sense it’s getting better?

“Not in construction,” he replied.

And economists say that without an improvement in the housing and construction market, the recovery will remain modest and signs like this will be all too frequent.

Not since 1992 has the employment rate dropped by almost half a percentage point in one month. That 1992 signaled major economic recovery from a recession.