Sarasota Jobs See Biggest Increase in Online Ads

As Southwest Florida and the state as a whole saw an impressive jump in the number of job openings posted online last month, there were more Sarasota jobs available than positions in any other county in the area.

A recent report from The Conference Board found that there were 5,574 online job advertisements during January in Sarasota County. While that may not seem like a large number, it is almost a 102 percent increase from last year.

The positions in Sarasota County that saw the biggest increase in ads were: Web developers, executive secretaries and administrative assistants, medical secretaries, telemarketers, and waiters and waitresses.

During December 2009, the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice area's unemployment rate decreased from 12.6 percent to 12.5 percent, following an increase from 12.3 percent during November. That increase keeps the area's unemployment rate higher than the national rate of 10 percent.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 250,900 workers during December, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 250,100 workers during November, but a 5 percent decrease from December 2008.

The Conference Board report further found there were 3,304 advertised openings in Manatee County, a 58 percent increase from the previous year, and 1,202 positions available in Charlotte County, a 50 percent increase from January 2009.

Throughout Florida as a whole, there were 212,500 advertised online job openings during January, accounting for a 35.5 percent increase from last year and a 14 percent increase from December 2009. That month-over-month jump was the largest increase for any state except California and the biggest monthly gain since the Conference Board began keeping track of data in 2005.

Unfortunately, the competition for those available jobs is still fierce, as there are 5.81 unemployed Floridians for every job opening, second only to Michigan, with 9.07 unemployed people for every available job.