Gov. Scott: Jacksonville Area Added More Than 23,000 New Jobs Over the Year

Press Release

Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Jacksonville area added 23,200 new private-sector jobs in the last year. Jacksonville's unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in June, down 0.8 percentage point from one year ago. Statewide, Florida businesses created 17,800 new jobs in June and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent, the lowest rate since June 2007. Since December 2010, Florida businesses have created 1,397,400 new private-sector jobs.

Governor Scott said, "The Jacksonville area added more than 23,000 new jobs over the past year, which means thousands of families in Northeast Florida are finding the opportunities they need to succeed. While Florida is continuing to compete with other locations for new jobs, our newly established $85 million Florida Job Growth Grant Fund will help encourage even more job creators to invest in creating new opportunities across Florida."

The industries with the highest growth over the year in Jacksonville were professional and business services with 6,500 new jobs; trade, transportation and utilities with 5,600 new jobs; and education and health services with 5,400 new jobs. The Jacksonville area once again rounded out the top five metro areas in job demand, with 19,654 openings, and ranked fifth-highest for number of high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 5,420 job openings.

For 63 consecutive months, Florida's annual job growth rate of 3.1 percent is exceeding the nation's rate of 1.7 percent. In June, 22,977 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state's other 23 local workforce boards.

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