Unemployment rate drops in LA to 6.5% in September

Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to a seven-year low of 5.2 percent in September, down from a revised 5.4 percent in August, according to figures released Friday by state officials.

Tampa Bay’s unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent.

For the two-county area, 5 percent of workers were without jobs last month, down from 5.9 percent the year before and ahead of the 5.3-percent state average. It’s the first time in almost three decades that the county posted record payroll jobs in something approaching real time; previous records have only been noted as revisions to the data were made months or even years after the fact. That was down from 6 percent in August and 6.4 percent a year ago. The August rate in Charlotte was 6.2 percent.

Zeller said that the rate of job growth in Ohio lags the nation as a whole, at 1.04 percent in September. Imperial was the states only county to be in double digits for September.

Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased 8,600 during the month.

That was followed by the government, which added 2,400 jobs, a lot of them in public schools.

However, Mason also said LEIP’s consumer price index for the Jacksonville area declined for the third straight month in September.

Manufacturing took a hit for the month, losing 3,900 jobs.

Unemployment is lowest in Shelby County, which had a September jobless rate of 4.1 percent.

The only major industry that lost jobs over the year was information. Construction posted the largest gains on a percentage basis, up 6.4 percent (adding 43,900 jobs).

In related data, the EDD reported that there were 343,419 people receiving regular Unemployment Insurance benefits during the September survey week.