If it's October, Lee and Charlotte county workers are pulling a paycheck.
October brought a third-straight month of unemployment declines as Lee County posted its best measure of the year at 8.5 percent.
Lee County unemployment hit its former low point for the year at 8.8 percent in May. Its October jobless rate is 2.2 percentage points under the 10.7 percent rate in October 2011.
The 10th month of the season annually provides a jobless bright spot as it represents the unofficial start of the season when northerners return for their winter in the sunshine State.
The latest Florida Department of Economic Opportunity report released Friday, Nov. 16, showed Lee County jobless rates improved from 9.1 percent in September. Lee County unemployment has improved 1.3 percentage points in just the past three months.
Charlotte County unemployment dipped from 9.3 percent in September to 8.5 percent in October while Sarasota County unemployment edged down to 8.5 percent in October from 8.7 percent in September.
Fact Box
Florida economic scorecard
Florida annual job growth positive 27 consecutive months
Florida's unemployment rate has declined year over year for 23 consecutive months
Florida expected to create more than 900,000 new jobs by 2018, according to Florida Economic Estimating Conference
Florida job growth month-to-month has been positive 13 of the last 16 months
Florida job postings increased 11.9 percent in October by 28,140 for a total of 264,636 openings, according to the Help Wanted OnLine data series from the Conference Board.
More people are moving into Florida. Net migration is up an estimated 134,500 in 2012 almost doubling 2011 in-migration of 68,000.
Florida is running a trade surplus of more than $24 billion with $86.8 billion in exports and $62.4 billion in imports in 2011, up from $73.1 billion in exports in 2010 and $53.2 billion in imports in 2010.
Tourism is up in Florida in 2012 to an estimated 89 million visitors from 82 million in 2010.
Lee County added 2,097 jobs from September to October. Its employed labor force expanded to 257,219 in October from 255,122 in September.
Florida's unemployment rate declined to 8.5 percent in October - the lowest rate since December 2008. The October rate was 1.7 percentage points lower than the year-ago rate of 10.2 percent
Since December 2010, the Florida unemployment rate has dropped 2.6 percentage points and 174,500 private sector jobs have been created. The state added 12,100 new private sector jobs in October.
"We are creating an environment that fosters job creation, economic development and provides a skilled work force,' said Gov. Rick Scott in his monthly press release. My No. 1 goal is to create jobs for Florida families and get this state back to work."
The lowest unemployment rate in the 67 Florida counties is 4.7 percent in Monroe. The highest jobless rate is 12.6 percent in Hendry County.
