FLORIDA — A labor force participation rate of only 63 percent was the lowest of any state for November, a new U.N. report says.
The report says the jobless rate in the nation’s poorest state hit an all-time low in November and is now at a five-year low of 10.4 percent.
Florida’s unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent in November, the lowest since 2009.
The unemployment rate has declined in every month since November 2008, when a record 4.6 million people were unemployed.
That’s more than double the 4.4 million who were unemployed in March 2008.
The labor force has dropped by more than 4 million people since then, to more than 8 million.
The U.K. and Canada also saw their labor force decline in November.
In the U of S, the number of unemployed dropped to 11.3 million in November from 15.4 in October.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that the job market has not recovered from the Great Recession.
The number of jobs in September was revised down from 13.1 million to 12.8 million.
In a separate report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said jobless claims, a proxy for the number who are looking for work, rose to 14.9 million in September from 15 million in August.
The agency said the number fell to 14 million in October from 15 and 16.6 millions in September.
The jobless number is a broad measure of the U,S.
economy.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is responsible for the job numbers, but the unemployment rate is not.
The official unemployment rate shows the number unemployed minus the number actively seeking work.
The BLS also reported that in November there were 4.7 million more people in the labor force, or people who were looking for jobs.
That increase was due to more people working part-time.
The overall labor force is projected to grow to 7.3 billion people in 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
