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TALLAHASSEE Florida’s unemployment rate held steady in November, as businesses did not boost seasonal hiring as much as usual amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday posted a 6.4 percent jobless rate for November, equal to a revised jobless mark for October. The rate indicates 651,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in mid-November, just 7,000 fewer than a month earlier.
The October mark had initially been estimated at 6.5 percent before being revised. The unemployment rate in November 2019, before the pandemic hammered the economy, was 2.8 percent.
Adrienne Johnston, the department’s chief of the Bureau of Labor Market Statistics, pointed to a failure of seasonal retail hiring to reach demand from past years.
TALLAHASSEE - Florida’s unemployment rate held steady in November, as businesses did not boost seasonal hiring as much as usual amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity on Friday posted a 6.4 percent jobless rate for November, equal to a revised jobless mark for October. The rate indicates 651,000 Floridians qualified as unemployed in mid-November, just 7,000 fewer than a month earlier.
The October mark had initially been estimated at 6.5 percent before being revised. The unemployment rate in November 2019, before the pandemic hammered the economy, was 2.8 percent.
Adrienne Johnston, the department’s chief of the Bureau of Labor Market Statistics, pointed to a failure of seasonal retail hiring to reach demand from past years.
Don’t be surprised if see more people equipped with binoculars than usual in parks and along roadsides all over Polk County in the coming weeks.
The time for the annual Audubon Society Christmas bird count is approaching. Locally, the effort will begin Saturday with the Lake Region Audubon Society count in the Lakeland-Winter Haven area. That will be followed by the Ridge Audubon count on Dec. 26.
There is also a count at Avon Park Air Force Range tentatively scheduled for Dec. 30 and a count in the Green Swamp around Colt Creek State Park in early January.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with the upcoming hiking season, the COVID-19 pandemic is also affecting how the bird counts are being conducted.