MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – The latest job numbers out of the U.S. Labor Department and private employment analysts showed unemployment dropped in about two-thirds of the major metropolitan areas around the country.

There are still six applicants for every job opening in South Florida, but help-wanted ads statewide are up over last month. The U.S. Department of Labor also reported a key local unemployment number just dropped.

Gloria Salazar recently quit her job after two-and-a-half years of working six days a week without any benefits, no overtime and no sick time. The Kendall single mom feared she’d be unemployed for a while; but it turns out she was wrong.

“I was very relieved, knowing how tight the economy is and how long people are trying to get back to work,” Salazar said.

CBS4 Chief Consumer Investigator Al Sunshine recently spoke with Gloria and asked how long it took to get back to work? She smiled and said, “it was two weeks, I was lucky.”

But, Gloria’s success could be the start of the latest new-hiring wave here and across the country. Nationally, metropolitan unemployment fell from 9.5 to 9.1 percent last month.

The Miami market dropping slightly to 11.2 percent. That puts Miami in the middle of the pack between Florida’s best and worst job markets; and it turns out she could be in the start of the latest new-hiring wave here and across the country.

While the Conference Board just reported online ads this month are down from earlier in the year; Florida led all major southern states with 14-hundred more job notices than august.

The best gains were seen in healthcare, technical, and office positions. The biggest declines were sales, management, and computers.

“I’ve seen it recently, a lot more orders for warehouse and holiday temps, which can often turn into full time positions,” Odalys Girado, of Doral’s Right Hire Staffing Solutions, said.

What does Gloria Salazar say to so many discouraged job seekers who joined the ranks of the long-term unemployed?

“Don’t lose hope, because there are jobs out there..people are hiring,” Salazar said.

As we get deeper into the fall and closer to the holiday shopping season, hiring typically improves. It may still be a while before national job figures show any significant gains.

But around South Florida new help-wanted signs may be a very welcome pre-holiday surprise.