Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Jacksonville area added 22,700 new private-sector jobs in the last year. Jacksonville’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in May, down 0.6 percentage point from one year ago. Statewide, Florida businesses created 21,900 new jobs in May and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent, the lowest rate since August 2007. Since December 2010, Florida businesses have created 1,377,100 new private-sector jobs.
Governor Scott said, “Like the rest of the state, Jacksonville has seen great economic success with nearly 23,000 new jobs created for Northeast Florida families over the past year. We will continue to fight each day to make it easier for job creators to grow in Florida so our families can have the opportunities they need to succeed now and well into the future.”
The industries with the highest growth over the year in Jacksonville were professional and business services with 6,100 new jobs and trade, transportation and utilities with 5,300 new jobs. The Jacksonville area rounded out the top five metro areas in job demand, with 20,813 openings, and ranked fourth-highest for number of high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 5,844 job openings.
For 62 consecutive months, Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3 percent is exceeding the nation’s rate of 1.8 percent. In May, 28,671 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state’s other 23 regional workforce boards.
To view the May 2017 employment data visit
www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases