published: Friday, November 28, 2008

Jobless rate jumps in Lake

BENJAMIN ROODE

Staff Writer

Lake County's unemployment rate shot up almost half a percentage point last month to 7.5 percent in October, according to figures from Workforce Central Florida.

It's a 15-year high in the number of jobless workers in the county and represents a more than 3 percentage point jump from this time last year.

Sumter's tally hit 4.8 percent, a slight increase from last month and about 1.6 percentage points higher than the same time last year. The statewide unemployment rate was 7 percent, up from 6.9 a month before and 4.4 percent a year ago.

October's rate is the highest in Lake County since August 1993 and 7.9 percent unemployment.

There are 10,156 unemployed workers searching for jobs in Lake County and 1,924 in Sumter, according to Workforce.

The area is seeing the trickle-down effects of a slumping home construction market, said Kimberly Cornett, spokeswoman for Workforce. Workers laid off because of the flat home construction market are spending less and are less optimistic about the economy, which in turn hurts local retailers. Those retailers cut jobs, and are less likely to hire part-time, holiday help.

"There's less money floating in the economy," she said. "It will certainly impact (the unemployment rate) unfortunately, in a negative way."

Vita Davis, a manager at Family Furniture in Eustis, said she had to lay off one employee Friday because of slumping sales. She estimated a 30 to 50 percent drop in Family's revenues over the past year. Less home construction, and customers wary of spending on new items, have helped slow those sales, she said.

The moves are similar at other stores, she said.

"We've all been hit," she said.

Sliding confidence has combined with reduced spending to drive such job losses all year. Lake's jobless rate has increased each month since April this year, when it was at 4.9 percent, according to the figures. Sumter's rate stayed at 4.6 percent in August and September and increased last month.

Davis said consumers need to spend, albeit within their budget, if the economic slump is to cease. Reasonable purchases at local stores help the local economy and could help bring some jobs back.

"We're going to have to put money into the economy," she said.

It could be late 2010 before confidence and spending return to reduce jobless numbers to a normal 3.5 to 4 percent level, Cornett said.