Florida, Manatee, Sarasota unemployment hits 8-year low

MANATEE -- Unemployment in Manatee and Sarasota counties, and across Florida, dropped in February, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

The unemployment rate in Manatee dropped by four-tenths of a percentage from January to 4.3 percent; and by a half percentage point to 4.4. percent in Sarasota, the state said Friday.

Hendry County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 7.8 percent, while Monroe had the lowest at 3.1 percent.

All county data are not seasonally adjusted, meaning it does not account for the predictable seasonal patterns in employment trends.

According to Gov. Rick Scott, the 4.9 percent statewide unemployment rate is its lowest in eight years. Florida unemployment has been below or equal to the national unemployment rate, also 4.9 percent in February, for 25 of the past 39 months.

In the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metropolitan statistical area, education and health care job sectors experienced the most growth. Information, government, trade, transportation and utilities industries did not see any growth month over month, though almost all industries grew year over year.

In February, 1,842 people visited CareerSource Suncoast centers looking for jobs, said Jen Bartolone, agency spokeswoman for CareerSource Suncoast.

"This is only about 100 less people than what we saw last February, which can be attributed to the lower unemployment rate," Bartolone said in an email. "Employers have been in a hiring mode the last few months, and in February alone there were 1,069 open and active job positions posted on employflorida.com, which is about 200 more than last year."

Since December 2010, Florida added more than 1 million private-sector jobs, according to a statement from Scott's office.

"When Gov. Scott took office, the unemployment rate was 10.7 percent," Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Cissy Proctor said in a statement. "His efforts to improve Florida's economy and spark private-sector growth have cut that unemployment rate more than in half."

Janelle O'Dea, business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095 or follow her on Twitter@jayohday.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 11:13 PM with the headline "Florida, Manatee, Sarasota unemployment hits 8-year low ."