FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Fort Lauderdale area added 17,800 new private-sector jobs in the past year, making the total number of new private-sector jobs created in the Fort Lauderdale area 140,300 since December 2010. Fort Lauderdale’s unemployment rate dropped to a low 2.8 percent in November, down 0.8 percentage point from one year ago. Statewide, Florida businesses created 23,000 new jobs in November bringing the total number of new private-sector jobs created in Florida to 1,673,500 since December 2010.

To see the statewide job creation information, click here.

The industries with the highest growth over the year in the Fort Lauderdale area were trade, transportation and utilities with 3,700 new jobs, professional and business services with 3,700 new jobs and construction with 3,300 new jobs.

Fort Lauderdale remains among the top four metro areas in online job demand in Florida with 30,888 openings in November. Also, the area had the fourth-highest number of openings for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 8,115 job ads.

Florida’s unemployment rate of 3.3 percent represents a drop of 7.5 percentage points since December 2010; this drop is faster than the national decline of 5.6 percentage points. This is while 116,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.1 percent in the past year. Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3.3 percent continues to exceed the nation’s rate of 1.9 percent.

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

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