NAPLES, Fla. — Governor Rick Scott announced today that unemployment rates in Southwest Florida areas have dropped in the last year. The Naples area’s unemployment rate is 3.9 percent, 0.6 percentage point less than it was a year ago. Fort Myers’ unemployment rate was also 3.9 percent, down 0.7 percentage point in the past year.

As of January, Florida’s unemployment rate is at 3.9 percent, a drop of 6.9 percentage points since December 2010; this drop is faster than the national decline of 5.2 percentage points. In the last year, 137,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.4 percent, which is nearly one and a half times the national labor force growth rate of only 0.9 percent.

The industry with the highest job growth in Naples over the year was construction with 400 new jobs. In January, the Naples area had 4,118 online job openings, including 644 for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

The industry with the largest job gains in Fort Myers over the year was professional and business services with 2,700 new jobs. In January, the Fort Myers area had 7,663 online job openings, including 1,278 high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

To view the January 2018 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

###