Gov. Scott: Orlando Area Added More Than 35,000 Jobs Over the Year

Press Release

Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Orlando area gained 35,500 new private sector jobs over the year in December. In addition, the Orlando area's unemployment rate declined by 0.8 percentage point over the year to 4.3 percent in December. Florida has added more than 1 million private sector jobs since 2010.

Governor Scott said, "More than 35,000 jobs were added in the Orlando area over the year and the unemployment rate continues to drop. In order to keep our economy growing and make Florida first for jobs, we will remain focused on cutting $1 billion in taxes and creating the new $250 million Florida Enterprise Fund this year."

In December, the industries with the highest job gains over the year in the Orlando metro area were in leisure and hospitality with 12,600 new jobs; professional and business services with 7,900 new jobs; and trade, transportation, and utilities with 6,700 new jobs. The metro area had the second-highest job demand in Florida in December with 34,279 openings and also ranked number two in high-wage, high-skill science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) demand in the state, with 8,831 openings in those fields.

Florida created 21,000 private-sector jobs in December, and a total of 1,025,400 private-sector jobs since December 2010. Florida's statewide unemployment rate for December was 5.0 percent. In December, more than 37,932 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Central Florida and the state's other 23 regional workforce boards.

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