The sunshine state, Florida, particularly Charlotte, has experienced a setback in January when its unemployment rate dropped and yet its job market in general became healthier compared to the previous year.
Unemployment rate in Charlotte County in January increased to 5.6 percent, up from 5.1 percent in December. But even with the month-to-month increase, the present rate of unemployment is still improving compared to the jobless rate of 6.5 percent in January 2015.
These numbers were released on Monday by the Florida Department of Economic Development. It should be noted that these county figures are not seasonally adjusted.
"Big picture, Charlotte County and Southwest Florida has shown tremendous progress during the past year, and a one month report does not change that," said Dr. Christopher Westley, Director, Florida Gulf Coast University Regional Economic Research Institute.
Another report indicated that Illinois is in a much worse condition. The report said that this state ranks among those with the highest unemployment rates in the nation.
January data showed that Illinois' unemployment rate was 6.3 percent, much higher than the country's 4.9 percent average. This figure was taken from the date released on Monday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Currently, there are only three states with unemployment rates greater than that of Illinois. In their proper order, these states are Mississippi with 6.9 percent, Alaska with 6.6 percent and New Mexico with 6.5 percent. D.C. has the same rate as Illinois at 6.5 percent.
Throughout last year, the state has added 49,600 but those were not enough to improve its unemployment rate. Its January 2015 unemployment rate was a flat 6 percent.
There were 10,000 construction jobs added in Illinois last year, but there were also 5,100 jobs lost in manufacturing. The most job increases were seen in the leisure and hospitality sector which added 20,700 jobs.
