ORLANDO, Fla. — Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Orlando area had the highest job creation in the state for the fifth month in a row, adding 46,300 new private-sector jobs in the last year. The unemployment rate in Orlando was 3.3 percent, down 1.0 percentage point from one year ago. Statewide, Florida businesses created nearly 30,000 new jobs in December bringing the total number of new private-sector jobs created in Florida to 1,497,100 since December 2010.
Governor Scott said, “For the fifth month in a row, the Orlando area led the state with the most jobs created, which is great news for families in Central Florida. Every job is an opportunity for a Floridian to provide for their family, and I look forward to another great year of job creation in 2018.”
Orlando led the state in job growth over the year in the following industries:
Leisure and hospitality with 10,900 new jobs;
Professional and business services with 10,800 new jobs; and
Manufacturing with 5,600 new jobs.
In December, the Orlando area was once again second among state metro areas in job demand with 34,410 job openings. Orlando also remained the second-highest metro area in demand for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 10,157 openings.
As of December, Florida’s unemployment rate is at 3.7 percent, a drop of 7.0 percentage points since December 2010, faster than the national decline of 5.2 percentage points. In the last year, 185,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.9 percent, which is nearly four times the national labor force growth rate of only 0.5 percent.
In December, 18,828 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Central Florida and the state’s other 23 local workforce boards.
To view the December 2017 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.