Citrus County's unemployment rate held steady from October to November at 11.0 percent, according to the state's Agency for Workforce Innovation, which is now called the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO).

The county's rate is 1 percent higher than the reported statewide rate of 10.0 percent, the DEO said in its Dec. 16 news release.

In nearby Levy County, unemployment rose slightly in November to 10.4 percent from October's rate of 10.2 percent. In Marion County, the unemployment rate remained the same from October to December at 11.8 percent. Hernando's November unemployment rate of 13.1 percent was also unchanged from October's tally.

Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November 2011 was 10.0 percent, the lowest since May 2009 when it was also 10.0 percent. This represented 926,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,228,000.

The DEO said the state’s unemployment rate was down 0.4 percentage point from October 2011 and was 1.9 percentage points lower than the November 2010 rate of 11.9 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate was 8.6 percent in November. Florida’s unemployment rate has been higher than the nation since February 2008.

Florida’s seasonally adjusted total nonagricultural employment in November 2011 was 7,281,700, an increase of 8,500 jobs (+0.1 percent) from October 2011. The number of jobs in the state was up 98,100 over the year, an increase of 1.4 percent from November 2010. The over-the-year growth rates in the past three months were the strongest since March 2007. Nationally, the number of jobs was up 1.2 percent over the year, the DEO said.