Central Florida's job market stretches well past the resorts, to hospitals, construction, warehouses, classrooms and the defense simulation and training offices near the University of Central Florida. The Chronicle tracks hiring, unemployment and pay in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties with Bureau of Labor Statistics data and Census Bureau survey estimates, compared with Florida and the U.S.
Education, health care and social assistance employ 19.6% of working residents, ahead of the 16.3% in hotels, food service and entertainment.
42.7% of Seminole County adults hold a bachelor's degree or more, compared with 27.8% in Lake County next door.
The county's rate is up 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier, slightly more than the statewide increase of 0.5 percentage points.
