Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Jacksonville area added 17,400 new private-sector jobs in the last year. Jacksonville’s unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in July, down 0.7 percentage point from one year ago.
Statewide, Florida businesses created 26,300 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate remained at the lowest rate since July 2007, 4.1 percent. Since December 2010, Florida businesses have created 1,422,700 new private-sector jobs. Governor Scott also highlighted his proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution that will require a supermajority vote by future Florida legislatures to raise any taxes or fees.
Governor Scott said, “With more than 1.4 million new jobs and a ten-year low unemployment rate, we are sending a message across the country that Florida is the top destination for economic growth. Jacksonville is a large part of our success with area businesses creating more than 17,000 new jobs over the past year. We will keep working to cut taxes and make it easier for businesses to create new opportunities in Florida.”
The industries with the highest growth over the year in Jacksonville were trade, transportation and utilities with 4,900 new jobs and education and health services with 3,500 new jobs. The Jacksonville area once again rounded out the top five metro areas in job demand, with 19,008 openings, and ranked fifth-highest for number of high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 5,369 job openings.
For 64 consecutive months, Florida’s annual job growth rate of 2.9 percent is exceeding the nation’s rate of 1.7 percent. In July, 23,168 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state’s other 23 local workforce boards.
To view the July 2017 employment data visit
www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.