Southwest Florida’s unemployment rate keeps heading in the right direction–downward–though there remains some room for improvement. The region as a whole posted a 5.4 percent jobless rate for August, just a tick better than July but much better than the 6.5 percent rate at this time last year. Charlotte County followed that trend while showing a 6.1 percent unemployment rate for August, much higher than the state’s 5.3 percent average but still much better than the county’s 7.3 percent last year. Sarasota County led the region at 5.2 percent with Manatee County coming in at 5.4 percent.
