Florida's unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent in February, the highest rate in nearly 33 years, the state labor department said Friday.
It was 8.8 percent in January, according to revised figures also released Friday.
South Florida's February rate was 8.2 percent.
County rates were as follows:
• Broward: 8.3 percent.
• Miami-Dade: 7.5 percent.
• Monroe: 6.2 percent.
• Palm Beach: 9.7 percent.
The state lost nearly 50,000 jobs during the month, for a total of 400,000 during the past year.
Both the monthly and yearly losses ranked second in the nation, with only California losing more.
On a percentage basis, the number of jobs in Florida fell 5.1 percent compared to this time last year. That put us at fourth place in the nation, behind Arizona, Michigan and Nevada.
Construction accounted for a quarter of Florida's losses, but every industry lost jobs except private education and healthcare, according to the labor department, which is officially called the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
South Florida was better off than some other parts of the state, however. Eleven of Florida's 23 metropolitan areas had jobless rates in the dible digits. Flagler County, which is on the east coast between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, had the state's worst unemployment rate, 14.2 percent.
