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Florida Unemployment Stagnates In February

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - Florida's unemployment rate in February remained unchanged from January at 6.2 percent. While the rate is down 1.7 percent from a year ago, the reasons behind the drop remain elusive.

The stagnating unemployment rate was not the news Governor Rick Scott was hoping for as he begins to get into campaign mode for the 2014 gubernatorial election.

Locally, Broward County saw overall job gains from January to February, even though the unemployment remained unchanged at 5.4 percent. The Broward County workforce grew by 12,645 workers month over month and 11,704 jobs were added.

Year over year, Broward County saw it's overall workforce grow by 29,396 and the total number of jobs grow by 39,299, helping drop the unemployment rate 1.1 percent.

The news wasn't as good in Miami-Dade County.

From January to February, the workforce in Miami-Dade shrank by 13,037 workers, according to the state unemployment report. The number of jobs in Miami-Dade also dropped by 8,331 in the last month.

However, the number of people on unemployment insurance in Miami-Dade County also dropped by 4,707 which helped send the unemployment rate down to 6.7 percent.

But, with the workforce and jobs shrinking, the cause of the unemployment rate drop may not be representative of an improving economy.

Monroe County continued to pace the state with a 3.8 percent unemployment rate in February, unchanged from January. Overall, 1,883 workers in Monroe County were on unemployment insurance.

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