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Florida Unemployment Rate Keeps Dropping; Now 4.8 Percent

Unemployment rate
Posted at 4:33 PM, May 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-20 16:33:00-04

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's unemployment rate is 4.8 percent, a slight drop from the previous month.

The state figures released Friday show April's unemployment was down from 4.9 percent in March. Florida added 31,100 jobs.

Florida now has 472,000 jobless residents out of a labor force of 9,801,000. The state has added 254,500 jobs over the past year, an increase of 3.2 percent.

The state remains below the national unemployment rate of 5.0 percent.

Monroe County had the state's lowest unemployment rate at 3.0 percent, followed by Hamilton County at 3.2 percent and St. John's County at 3.4 percent.

Hendry County had the state's highest unemployment rate at 7.0 percent, followed by Sumter County at 6.6 percent and Citrus County at 6.3 percent.

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