Florida Unemployment Down From 11.9% to 10%?

Orange County, Florida Mayor Teresa Jacobs
Orange County, Florida Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Florida Governor Rick Scott have been blowing their horns of late bragging about the reduction in the Florida unemployment rate.
Are these claims legitimate?
Yes and no.
Going by the unemployment rule book Rick Scott has been very diligent in eliminating unemployed claimants from the roles who do not follow procedures to the letter. The Florida labor force has declined about 0.5% since Scott took office in January from 9,278,147 to 9,228,406, a reduction of 49,741 people from the unemployment roles. Good or bad? You decide.
Florida employment has increased from 8,176,318 to 8,302,617 or a 1.5% increase, slightly outpacing the population growth rate of 1.36%.
So there is some truth in the numbers, but certainly even Scott and Jacobs realize a 10% unemployment rate is catastrophic.
Here are some sectors and their growth percentages for the last 11 months;
Florida Government Employment down 0.3%. This is positive. Less government workers means twice as many private sector workers in sustainable jobs.

Florida Governor Rick Scott

Construction Employment up 0.7%.
Professional and Business Services Employment up 3.7%.
Leisure and Hospitality Employment up 2.8%.
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities Employment up 2.3%.
The total Florida population is around 19,190,944, growing at about 1.4% per year.
The national labor force has grown 0.8%, compared to Florida’s negative growth of 0.5%, since January, 2011. If the labor force in Florida kept pace with the national labor force, the Florida unemployment rate would be 11.2%, a much smaller decline and a national embarrassment.
The national employed work force has increased 2.5%, compared to Florida’s 1.5%.
Those are the numbers, you make the call.