More jobs in Fort Lauderdale were lost at the beginning of this year.

Although the area's January unemployment rate has not yet been released, Florida's rate as a whole increased from 11.7 percent to 11.9 percent, which is higher than the national rate of 9.7 percent. Fort Lauderdale had an unemployment rate of 10 percent during December 2009.

The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach area had a total non-farm employment of 697,000 workers during January, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 708,400 workers during December and a 4.5 percent decrease from last year.

No industries managed to add jobs on a monthly basis. Employment in the government industry remained even over the month with 101,800 workers. Only one industry saw a yearly increase in employment.

The education and health services industry employed 94,200 workers during January, which is down from 94,700 workers during December, but a 1.8 percent increase from January 2009.

The construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. The industry employed 32,300 workers during January, down from 33,400 workers during December and a 23.1 percent decrease from last year.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• manufacturing by 12.6 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 4.5 percent
• information by 12.2 percent
• financial activities by 7.3 percent
• professional and business services by 3.1 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 3.6 percent
• other services by 1.3 percent
• government by 1 percent

Labels: Jobs in Fort Lauderdale