Governor Rick Scott announced today that the Jacksonville area added 23,700 new private-sector jobs over the year in March. The area’s unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in March, down 0.5 percentage point from one year ago. In the last year, Florida businesses created 233,800 new jobs, bringing the total number of new jobs added since December 2010 to 1,353,000.
Governor Scott said, “Our unrelenting focus on cutting taxes, reducing regulations and supporting proven economic development programs are helping create new opportunities across our state, including in the Jacksonville area. It is great news that nearly 24,000 new jobs have been created for families in Northeast Florida over the past year.”
The industries with the most job growth in the Jacksonville area over the year were professional and business services with 6,100 new jobs and education and health services with 5,600 new jobs. The Jacksonville area rounded out the top five metro areas in job demand, with 18,430 openings, including 4,973 openings for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.
Statewide, Florida businesses created 60,600 new jobs in first quarter of 2017 and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent. For the fifth consecutive year, Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3.2 percent is exceeding the nation’s rate of 1.7 percent. More than 26,844 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state’s other 23 regional workforce boards.
To view the March 2017 employment data visit
www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases