Gov. Scott: Jacksonville adds nearly 29,000 jobs this year

Governor Rick Scott announced that businesses in Jacksonville created 28,700 new private-sector jobs over the year in September.

The area’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in September, a decline of 0.4 percentage point in the last year, officials said.

Florida businesses created 17,900 private-sector jobs across the state during September 2016, bringing the total number of jobs created since December 2010 to 1,222,500 jobs.

Governor Scott said, “The Jacksonville area continues to be a great place for job creators and families to succeed. We will continue to do all we can to help Florida outcompete other locations for new jobs so Florida can become first in the nation for job growth.”

The industries with the largest job gains in the Jacksonville area over the year were leisure and hospitality with 6,100 new jobs and education and health services with 5,100 new jobs.

Scott said Jacksonville is among the top five metro areas in job demand, with 19,019 openings, including 5,425 job openings in high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

For the 54th consecutive month, Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3.6 percent is also exceeding the nation’s rate of 1.9 percent. More than 32,000 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state’s other 23 regional workforce boards.

Cox Media Group