Following last week's somewhat reassuring news that Florida's unemployment rate had dropped to the lowest it's been since 2009, it seems that someone is out to ruin all optimism with real statistics and hard truth.
According to a new On Numbers analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Florida now ranks second in the nation for unemployment growth over the past decade. The analysis states that Florida has added 355,767 people to the official ranks of unemployed over the past ten years.
From 2002 to 2012, the state saw a 74.13 percent increase in unemployment filings with 479,898 in 2002 and 835,665 in 2012. According to the analysis, Florida ranks second behind California, the only other state to add more to their roster of unemployed with 884,879 unemployed workers in 2012.
While this isn't the brightest of news, the state has seen a significant decrease in unemployment numbers following the 2008 recession. Hundreds of new jobs in Tampa seem to arise every month with new companies like Progressive and TruGreen opening up shop throughout the area. Sometimes it's all a matter of perspective.
