Florida Governor Rick Scott Announces Statewide Unemployment Rate Falls To 6.4 Percent

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott isssued a news release today, December 20, 2013, announcing that the statewide unemployment rate for November 2013 has decreased to 6.4 percent.

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The statewide unemployment rate has remained below the national average of 7.0 percent since March 2013. Florida added 6,000 private sector jobs in November 2013 and the state has created a total of 446,300 private sector jobs since December 2010.

Governor Scott said, “We haven’t experienced an unemployment rate this low in over five years. At 6.4 percent, we’re well below the nation’s 7 percent unemployment rate, and we added another 6,000 new jobs in November.  We’ve cut taxes, made government more efficient and provided more services to families.  The result: we are creating an opportunity economy that supports more than 446,000 new private sector jobs since December 2010.  Today’s news is great, but we’re not finished.  We’re proposing to cut automobile taxes and fees by $401 million in our next budget.  In 2009, those fees were raised, and we’re going to undo that 54 percent increase on Florida families.”

Florida gained 6,000 private sector jobs in November 2013. Florida’s annual job growth rate of 2.5 percent in October and November 2013 was the fastest since June 2006. The state’s annual job growth rate has exceeded or been equal to the nation’s rate since March 2012.

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Jesse Panuccio said, “The economic news just keeps getting better for Florida.  We’ve had another significant drop in the unemployment rate, continued job growth, and job demand is at an all-time high.  The policies of the Scott Administration are working to create an opportunity economy for all Floridians.”

Since December 2010, Florida’s statewide unemployment rate has dropped 4.7 percentage points, from a rate of 11.1 percent to November’s rate of 6.4 percent.  The current rate of 6.4 percent represents the lowest statewide unemployment rate since July 2008.  It is also a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from November 2012, when the rate was 8.0 percent.  Florida’s unemployment rate has now declined year-over-year for 37 consecutive months.

More Jobs Being Created

• Florida experienced positive annual job growth for 40 consecutive months.
• Florida’s job growth month-to-month has been positive for 27 of the last 29 months.
• Florida has created 446,300 new private sector jobs since December 2010.
• Florida is expected to create more than 1 million new jobs by 2018, according to the Florida Economic Estimating Conference.
• Florida job postings compiled by the Help Wanted OnLine data series from The Conference Board showed 279,789 openings in November 2013. This was an all-time high in the data series that began in May 2005.

Home Sales Robust

• Home sales remain robust as the backlog of existing homes on the market is down by 48 percent from February 2011 (Florida Realtors).
• Florida median home prices were up 13.3 percent over the year in November 2013.

Economic Growth Trends Up Across State

• A recent U.S. Census Survey reported that Florida experienced an influx of people moving into the state. Florida also led the nation in migrations from Puerto Rico.
• Florida is running a trade surplus of over $18 billion – with $90.4 billion in exports and $71.8 billion in imports in 2012, up from $86.8 billion in exports in 2011 and $62.4 billion in imports in 2011.

Workforce Boards Assisting in Employment

• In November, Florida’s 24 Regional Workforce Boards reported more than 42,100 Floridians were placed in jobs. An individual who receives employment and training assistance through a One-Stop Career Center and finds a job within 180 days is deemed a placement and may be reported by a regional workforce board. Of these individuals, 12,091 previously received Reemployment Assistance.
• In 2012, more than 426,000 Floridians were placed in jobs, with 111,173 former claimants finding employment.

To view the November 2013 monthly employment data visit:

www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

 

 

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