WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the West Palm Beach area saw an increase of 12,200 new private-sector jobs over the year in May. The area’s unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in May, down 0.9 percentage point in the last year.

The industries with the most job growth over the year in the West Palm Beach area were professional and business services with 4,300 new jobs; education and health services with 2,500 new jobs; and leisure and hospitality with 2,100 new jobs. The West Palm Beach area had 18,992 job openings in May, of which, 5,813 were high-wage, high-skill science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations.

Florida businesses created 239,000 private-sector jobs over the year in May, exceeding the nation’s private-sector job growth rate for more than four years. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in May, while 33,589 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Palm Beach County and the state’s other 24 regional workforce boards. 

To view the May 2016 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

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