JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Jacksonville area added 16,700 new private-sector jobs in the last year. Jacksonville’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent in August, down 0.9 percentage point from one year ago. Statewide, Florida businesses created 22,100 new jobs in August and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.0 percent, the lowest rate since June 2007. Since December 2010, Florida businesses have created 1,441,000 new private-sector jobs.

The industries with the highest growth over the year in Jacksonville were trade, transportation and utilities with 5,000 new jobs; education and health services with 4,500 new jobs; and professional and business services with 4,400 new jobs. The Jacksonville area once again rounded out the top five metro areas in job demand, with 19,826 openings, and ranked fourth-highest for number of high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 5,766 job openings.

Florida’s annual job growth rate of 2.9 percent exceeds the nation’s rate of 1.7 percent, continuing the 65-month trend of our state’s rate being higher than the nation’s. In August, 23,936 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Northeast Florida and the state’s other 23 local workforce boards. 

To view the August 2017 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

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