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Hernando Today

Hernando County Unemployment is 12.4

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: March 6, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - Hernando County's unemployment rate jumped to 12.4 percent in January – reaching its highest level in 33 years.

Hernando has the second-worst job market in the state behind Flagler County, which recorded an unemployment rate of 14.2, according to state figures released Friday morning.

Both counties had a surging housing market less than three years ago. The halt in residential and commercial construction has hit them the hardest, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Hernando County's unemployment rate has gotten progressively worst since April 2008, when it was at 6.6 percent.

By December 2008, it reached 10.9 percent. Its average for 2008 was 8.3 percent.

Florida's unemployment rate for January is 8.6 percent, up from 7.6 percent the month before.

The nation's figure is at 8.1 percent, the highest since 1983, according to a recent report from the U.S. Labor Department.

High unemployment typically is at its highest a year or so following a recession.

Hernando County's highest-recorded unemployment rate was in June 1976, when it topped off at 20.7 percent. That came after the recession of 1974 and 1975.

The ongoing recession is not expected to improve until 2010 at the earliest, economists have said.

There are 20 counties in Florida that had double-digit unemployment rates in January, according to state statistics.

Hernando County has a labor force of 63,560. A total of 7,875 are unemployed.

Throughout Florida, 800,000 people are unemployed, according to the workforce agency.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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