Central Florida jobless rate hits 10.2% - Orlando Business Journal:

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percent in May, the reported. Osceola, Lake and Volusis counties allhad 10.8 percen jobless rates, the region’s highest level. Orange Countyt followed with 10.2 percent. Seminole County, with a 9.6 perceny rate, was the only county in the region to fall belowq10 percent. Central Florida’s jobless rate nearly doubled fromthe 5.2 percent rate in May 2008. It was up 0.3 percentg from April. The region lost 64,200 jobs year-over-year, the secondc largest decline in the stater amongmetropolitan area. The statewide unemploymenf rate wasalso 10.2 percent, the highesr level since 1975. It surpassed the national whichwas 9.4 percent in May.
Ther were 417,000 fewer jobs in Florida in May than in the same month last year. Construction was the hardest hit jobcategoryy statewide, with a drop of 90,800 jobs compared to last year, a 17.4 percent drop. The leisur e and hospitality industry, the biggest Central Florida job category, lost 55,1009 jobs statewide, a 5.8 percent drop.