Unemployment rises in June

TALLAHASSEE — Although the state's June unemployment rate remained flat at 10.6%, the same as May, all eight Gulf Coast counties saw unemployment rise last month, according to the report from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Collier County saw the largest gains in unemployment from May to June, with its rate increasing 1.4%, from 9.9% in May to 11.3% in June. Of the metro areas with job declines, the Naples-Marco Island area ranked third highest in the state, with 2,500 jobs lost, a 2.3% decrease.

All of the other Gulf Coast counties saw unemployment rise, but less than 1% from May to June. The average increase among the eight Gulf Coast counties was .7%. Despite the latest increase in unemployment, all of the counties improved their unemployment rate compared with June 2010.

This improvement year over year is true for state unemployment as well, with the unemployment rate dropping .8% compared with June 2010.

“While Florida's continued pattern of job growth is good news, we still have much work to do to restore our state's economy to pre-recession levels, and the effort remains our highest priority,” says Cynthia R. Lorenzo, director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation, in a press release.