Jobless rate dips in state, drops more in NE Florida

Despite gains, Florida's rate remains higher than national average

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida's new unemployment rate is slightly lower than it was last month, although the rate remains higher than the national average.

The state's unemployment rate in September was 6.1 percent, or a drop of 0.2 percent from the previous month. The improvement was even more marked in northeast Florida, where Duval County's jobless rate dropped a full percentage point. Flagler and Putnam showed counties showed similar gains. (See county-by-county rates at bottom of this article.)

The unemployment rate has been relatively flat for most of the year as the national average dropped to 5.9 percent.

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These new numbers are the last round of unemployment statistics to be released before Election Day.

The unemployment rate is important for Gov. Rick Scott because he campaigned in 2010 on a pledge to add 700,000 jobs above the 1 million jobs that would occur with normal growth.

Scott has maintained that his push for tax cuts and cuts in government spending have helped the economy in northeast Florida as well as across the state.

"The decline in the local unemployment rate coupled with 19,900 new area jobs means that more and more families in the Jacksonville area are able to provide for their families and live the American Dream," Scott said in a statement. 

September 2014  August 2014     September 2013   
Alachua County 4.8%5.5%5.3%
Baker County 5.3%6.0%6.5%
Bradford County  5.1%5.6%5.5%
Clay County5.4%5.9%6.2%
Columbia County 6.0%6.7%6.6%
Duval County6.2%7.2%7.0
Flagler County8.4%9.5%9.9%
Nassau County5.2%5.8%6.0%
Putnam County7.9%8.9%9.0%
St. Johns County   4.8%5.3%5.4%
Union County5.6%6.3%5.8%