TALLAHASSEE – Since World War II, Florida has beckoned retirees looking to spend their golden years in the sun. The steady stream has made Florida the oldest state in the nation. Now, Florida is headed for an even grayer future in the Baby Boomer retirement era, state economists and demographers predict. The consequences: worker shortages and severe strains on public pensions and government services.

Unemployment continues to rise in Lake and Sumter counties. Out-of-work residents flock to libraries and job fairs to apply for job openings. Employers are inundated with hundreds of job applications. With less disposable income, consumer confidence is dwindling. Here's a quick look at the state of unemployment, by the numbers.

13,055* -- The number of people in Lake County who were on unemployment benefits in January. Lake's unemployment rate rose by more than one percentage point to 9.7 percent in January. It's the highest jobless rate in Lake in more than 16 years.

TAVARES — Picture a population about the size of Tavares — unemployed.

Lake County's jobless count swelled to 13,055 during January, according to preliminary unemployment figures Workforce Central Florida released Friday. That's about the size of the county seat and the highest raw number of unemployed workers in Lake since at least 1990.

An unstable economy is forcing thousands of children to leave Florida's private schools for a public education or lessons taught by Mom and Dad at home.

About 14,000 students were taken out of private schools last school year -- part of an exodus of more than 46,000 kids since 2004, according to numbers released this week by the Florida Department of Education.

And officials expect the number to keep climbing.