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Friday's Afternoon Update

Florida's unemployment rate unchanged

Florida's unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.8 percent in August, state officials reported Friday. Meanwhile, a separate report indicated the state added 23,200 jobs over the month and is up 77,800 jobs compared to a year ago. A loss of more than 5,000 government jobs this month was more than countered by a growth of 28,000 jobs in the private sector. [Source: Tampa Bay Times]

Related:
» What if Florida’s workers never got discouraged?


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Beer gardens at the head of the class

beer

Florida’s fascination with craft-brewed beer, ale, porter, weissbier and more has grown so much that the state now boasts more than 70 breweries from the Panhandle to the Keys, with the biggest clusters around Jacksonville and Tampa.

That’s perhaps 30 more than last year, making Florida more beer-savvy than most states and starting to catch us up with the Rockies and the West Coast.  

» Beer gardens at the head of the class

State's citrus season was third-most profitable in history

The recently completed 2011-12 Florida citrus season may not turn out to be the most profitable in Florida's history, but even a bronze gets you on the medal stand. The value of last season's citrus crop reached $1.35 billion, down 1 percent from a revised 2010-11 crop value of $1.37 billion and shy of the previous record of $1.5 billion in the 2006-07 season, according to the preliminary 2011-12 season summary. [Source: Lakeland Ledger]


Darden's profit rises, but Red Lobster's sales slump

Orlando-based Darden Restaurants' first-quarter profit increased 3.9 percent but sales edged down slightly at its established Olive Gardens, Red Lobsters and LongHorn Steakhouses, the company reported Friday. [Source: Orlando Sentinel]


» FRIDAY PREVIEW: Coming next week to FloridaTrend.com:

  • Business Florida: 5 reasons to do business in Florida
  • Tanker Scramble: MacDill is trying to land a wing of the Air Force's new KC-46A tanker planes as the Air Force phases out the KC-135.
  • Diamond Farm: Since taking over the family farm operation in Jay in 1984, Mickey Diamond has been a leader in better farming practices.
  • Handful of Aces: A turn of events leads attorney Timothy Moran to his niche.

» You'll find all these stories first on the Daily and Afternoon Pulse e-mails.


Book Review

The impact of Hispanic business in the economic landscape of the United States has been traditionally associated with the efforts of families who often send out their men to join the workforce or support them to become entrepreneurs. The landscape is changing, however, and Latinas are following a socioeconomic trend that has been sweeping the country over the last few years: Women are increasingly taking many top positions in the American workplace, from management to professional roles. Read more at the Palm Beach Post and Latin Business Today and see the book at Amazon.