Florida matched all time highest unemployment rate in January

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Florida matched its highest-ever unemployment rate in January at 11.9 percent with 1.1 million Floridians out of work.

The figures released this morning showed a 0.2 point increase in the jobless rate from December. The unemployment rate was 3.2 percentage points higher than the year previous. Florida's jobless rate is higher than the national 9.7 percent rate.

More than 300,000 jobs have been lost in Florida in the last year as the real estate bust and recession took its toll. Construction was where the most jobs were lost, with 90,700 disappearing.

The figures released Wednesday matched Florida's 11.9 percent unemployment rate from May 1975, the highest ever recorded.