Ranks of job seekers rising

Hernando had the state's second-highest jobless rate, figures for December show.

By Tom Marshall, Times Staff Writer
Published February 19, 2008

SPRING HILL - Hernando County topped most other Florida counties last year on a particularly undesirable list: unemployment.

The county's 6.6 percent jobless rate in December was higher than every county except Hendry in south-central Florida, which posted a 6.9 percent rate, according to state figures.

Neighboring Pasco County earned an 11th-place ranking on the 67-county list, with unemployment at 5.5 percent, while Citrus was eighth with 5.7 percent.

Officials placed much of the blame on the North Suncoast's slumping construction industry and related manufacturing during a meeting of the Pasco Hernando Workforce Board last week.

"It's not all-time highs," said Lee Ellzey, president and chief executive officer of the regional jobs and education board, referring to historic unemployment rates of about 10 percent in the early 1990s. "But it's certainly significant."

In both Hernando and Pasco, the number of people working remained virtually constant over the last year, but the number of people seeking work jumped substantially. Some 4,122 people sought work last December in Hernando, compared with 2,498 the previous year, while the number of job seekers grew from 6,789 to 10,660 in Pasco.

Hernando's job-seeking numbers rose at a steeper clip - up 2.5 points from last year's rate of 4.1 percent - than in any other county except Charlotte.

The seasonally unadjusted numbers do not include people whose unemployment benefits have run out.

That pain is evident in a "marked increase" in walk-in traffic at career centers in Pasco and Hernando, perhaps as much as 25 percent, and similar increases in applications for welfare assistance, Ellzey said.

"I can tell you quite a few people walking through those doors don't have the minimum skill sets to get those jobs," he added.

Employers and school officials said they are focusing on retraining employees and adding relevant high school or college courses in hopes of keeping workers and jobs from migrating to other regions. They see health care and information technology as industries with particular promise to bring the North Suncoast within reach of the relatively vibrant Pinellas and Hillsborough economies, which both posted unemployment rates of 4.4 percent in December.

Rob Aguis, career and technical education director for Pasco County schools, said graduates of the new technology academy at Wiregrass Ranch High can look forward to certification from industry leaders like Adobe and Microsoft.

In Hernando, students at Nature Coast Technical High will see a new career academy in allied health sciences next fall, while students at Springstead High will get a program in Web design, said curriculum specialist David Schoelles.

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or 352 848-1431.

FAST FACTS: 

Stacking up

Unemployment rates in Tampa Bay region, December 2007

Fla.County Pct. rank

Hernando 6.6 2

Citrus 5.7 8

Pasco 5.5 11

Hillsborough 4.4 35

Pinellas 4.4 37

Florida 4.4 -

United States 4.8 -

Source: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, U.S. Department of Labor

[Last modified February 18, 2008, 20:44:14]