Gov. Rick Scott: Jacksonville Added 15,000 Jobs Over the Year

Press Release

Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the Jacksonville area gained 15,000 new jobs over the year in August 2015. The Jacksonville area's unemployment rate declined by 1.2 percentage points over the year, from 6.7 percent in August 2014 to 5.5 percent in August 2015. Florida businesses have added 940,600 private-sector jobs since December 2010.

Governor Scott said, "Jacksonville businesses created 15,000 jobs over the year, which is great news for families in Northeast Florida. Every company that chooses to grow in Florida means more jobs for our families, and that is why we are cutting taxes and making it easier for businesses to succeed in our state."

The industries with the largest job gains over the year were leisure and hospitality with 5,100 new jobs, education and health services with 5,000 new jobs, and trade, transportation, and utilities with 4,000 new jobs. In August 2015, the Jacksonville MSA had 21,325 online job openings and had 5,191 online openings for high wage, high skill science technology engineering math (STEM) jobs.

Florida created 20,100 private-sector jobs in August 2015, and a total of 940,600 private-sector jobs since December 2010. Florida's statewide unemployment rate for August 2015 was 5.3 percent. In August, more than 37,900 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state's other 23 regional workforce boards.

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