Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Jacksonville area added 20,700 new private-sector jobs over the year in February. The area’s unemployment rate declined by 1.0 percentage point over the year to 4.5 percent in February. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent in February, the state’s lowest rate in eight years.
Governor Scott said, “Jacksonville businesses have added 20,700 new jobs and the unemployment rate has dropped to 4.5 percent, which is exciting news for families. Every job created makes an incredible difference in someone’s life, and we are proud to celebrate the creation of more than one million jobs in only five years. However, our work will not be done until we make Florida first in the nation for jobs.”
The industries with the largest job gains over the year in the Jacksonville area were leisure and hospitality with 6,200 new jobs; and trade, transportation, and utilities with 4,300 new jobs. In February, the Jacksonville area was among the top five metro areas in the state for job demand with 21,692 job openings, including 6,001 openings for high-wage, high-skill science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs.
Since December 2010, 1,056,000 private-sector jobs have been created in Florida. Florida businesses created 235,200 private-sector jobs over the year in February, exceeding the nation’s private-sector job growth rate. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent in February, the state’s lowest rate in eight years. Also this month, 34,977 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state’s other 24 regional workforce boards.
To view the February 2016 employment data visit
www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.