Local unemployment rate continues tumble

The unemployment rate in Sarasota County fell to its lowest level last month since December 2007, while the local metro area added more than 4,000 jobs.

The county continued outpacing the state with a 5.3% unemployment rate in November, which continued its downward trend from 6.2% in July, and long-term tumble from 12.8% in January 2010, according to data released by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Friday.

The latest data adds to increasing evidence of a steady economic recovery, including recent news about double-digit percentage increases in building permits the city and county issued in the last fiscal year over 2013.

However, the construction sector in the North Port-Bradenton-sarasota metropolitan study area shed 400 jobs last month. The local retail industry, which added about 1,600 positions, and the hospitality sector, which recorded 1,000 more jobs, helped buoy the area’s employment figures.