Florida has created nearly 40,000 private-sector jobs since January, but the state’s unemployment rate dipped slightly for the month of March at 4.9 percent.
February’s revised unemployment rate was 5 percent in the Sunshine State.
According to a press release from Gov. Rick Scott’s office, Florida businesses created 225,300 new private-sector jobs since March of last year. Since 2010, Florida businesses have created over a million new jobs. As of March, there were 478,000 jobless Floridians out of a labor force of nearly 10 million.
The businesses attracting the most growth over the year in March were professional and business services, following by education and health services as well as trade, transportation and utilities.
“I am proud to announce today that Florida businesses have created more than 36,000 new jobs so far this year,” said Gov. Rick Scott at an announcement in Tampa. “Florida continues to be a leader in job creation, and our annual private-sector job growth rate has exceeded the nation’s for four straight years.”
The Tampa Bay Area added a significant chunk of the state’s jobs over the last year, adding more than 43,000 jobs to the state’s total. That number was higher than any other area statewide.
South Florida also had some of the state’s largest job numbers over the year. The Fort Lauderdale area added around 26,000 jobs while the Miami-Dade area added more than 23,000 jobs over the year.
Monroe County had the lowest unemployment rate for the month of March at 3.1 percent, followed by St. Johns County (3.5 percent) and Lafayette County, which had an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.
Hendry County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 7.3 percent, followed by Sumter County and Citrus County, which had unemployment rates at 6.7 and 6.5 percent respectively.
“We’re working every day to attract fast growing businesses to Florida and help our local businesses get the resources they need to be successful in our state,” said DEO Executive Director Cissy Proctor.
This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
