With season in full swing and the holidays just around the corner, Florida job-seekers have good reason to celebrate. After all, unemployment across the state hit its lowest level in nearly four years, according to the October jobless report released Friday by the state Department of Economic Opportunity.

Florida’s private sector created 12,100 new jobs in October, pushing unemployment to a seasonally adjusted rate of 8.5 percent, the lowest it’s been since December 2008, the DEO reported. The state’s unemployment rate a year ago was 10.2 percent.