News Release:

TALLAHASSEE – Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October 2008 is 7.0 percent. This represents 655,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,361,000. The unemployment rate is 0.4 percentage point higher than the September rate of 6.6 percent and is up 2.7 percentage points from the October 2007 rate. Florida’s October 2008 unemployment rate is the highest since December 1993, which was also 7.0 percent. The state’s current unemployment rate is 0.5 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.5 percent.

Florida’s annual nonagricultural employment growth rate for October 2008 is -1.9 percent. The rate represents a loss of 156,200 jobs from October 2007, for a total employment level of 7,875,800. This is slower than the national rate for October which is -0.8 percent. The October 2008 job growth rate continues the trend of negative over-the-year growth that began in September 2007, primarily due to declines in construction.

“The Agency for Workforce Innovation and our partners throughout the workforce system are reinforcing our efforts to provide a wide array of programs and specialized assistance to help job seekers gain meaningful employment,” said Monesia T. Brown, Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation. “One of the many valuable resources available is the Employ Florida Marketplace web site which provides a powerful online job-matching tool for both job seekers and employers. It provides job seekers with immediate access to nearly 200,000 job openings ranging from entry-level to executive talent.”

The state’s 24 Regional Workforce Boards are working hard to serve the employment needs of the people of their communities by working closely with local economic development, education, and business partners to help employ Floridians. To learn more about local efforts throughout the state, contact the Regional Workforce Boards directly, at www.workforceflorida.com/boards/. Just a few recent examples of their specialized efforts include the following:

· The South Florida Workforce Board, which serves Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, recently helped more than 70 transportation employees remain employed when faced with possible lay-offs. The Workforce Board provided on-site assistance to help place the workers in new employment opportunities with another local transportation business.

·In an effort to provide greater access to employment opportunities, FloridaWorks, the local workforce board serving the greater Gainesville area, has partnered with four of the area’s eight largest employers. This partnership is yielding a monthly average of 100-120 high-wage, high-demand job openings being listed on the Employ Florida Marketplace website, which ensures job seekers have immediate access to employment opportunities as soon as they are announced.

The Employ Florida Marketplace website, www.EmployFlorida.com, is designed to connect the state’s vast pool of talent with thousands of businesses looking to fill job openings. It is specifically designed for employers, job seekers, students, training providers and others seeking workforce services and resources. The site currently lists more than 65,000 registered employers and averages more than 80,000 unique visitors per day.

The Employ Florida Marketplace currently gives job seekers immediate access to thousands of career openings at all levels of employment. Florida’s job seekers benefit from the Employ Florida Marketplace through access to job openings, online application services, resume building support, job skills assessments, job training and other labor market information and tools. The Employ Florida Marketplace benefits employers with free job listings to locate potential employees, and free labor market information on salary and economic data and trends.

In addition to Employ Florida Marketplace, other programs and services offered to Florida’s job seekers and businesses include:

· One-Stop Career Centers – Florida’s 88 One-Stop Career Centers, locally operated by Regional Workforce Boards, provide local access to job placement services, local workforce information and job training opportunities. Follow this link for a Map of Florida One-Stop Career Centers. (www.floridajobs.org/onestop/onestopdir/index.htm)

· Mobile One-Stop Career Centers – Florida’s Mobile One-Stop Career Centers allow citizens in rural areas, at job fairs and during emergency situations to access critical workforce information and services.

· Labor Market Information – The Agency for Workforce Innovation’s Labor Market Statistics Center produces data, such as employment, unemployment and wage information, that assist workforce/economic development, education, employers and job seekers. These statistics assist with economic analysis, business recruitment, career counseling and other critical business decision-making. Follow this link for information about the Agency’s Labor Market Statistics Center. (www.labormarketinfo.com/)

· Work Opportunity Tax Credit - The Work Opportunity Tax Credit offers a financial incentive to private, for-profit employers to hire individuals from certain targeted groups, who experience high rates of unemployment due to a variety of employment barriers. Follow this link for information about the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. (www.floridajobs.org/workforce/wotc.html)

For more information on these and other Agency for Workforce Innovation programs, go to www.FloridaJobs.org.