NAPLES, Fla. — Governor Rick Scott announced today that unemployment rates in Southwest Florida areas have dropped in the past year. The Naples area’s unemployment rate was a low 4.2 percent, 0.5 percentage point less than it was a year ago. Fort Myers’ unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, down 0.4 percentage point in the past year. Additionally, the Fort Myers area had an increase of 3,200 new private-sector jobs in the past year.

Statewide, Florida businesses created 20,000 new jobs in August bringing the total number of new private-sector jobs created in Florida to 1,615,500 since December 2010. To see the statewide job creation information, click here.

The industry with the highest job growth in Naples over the year was construction with 1,700 new jobs. In August, the Naples area had 3,768 online job openings, including 602 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 1,200 new jobs. In August, the Fort Myers area had 7,601 online job openings, including 1,347 high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

As of August, Florida’s unemployment rate remained at a low of 3.7 percent, a drop of 7.1 percentage points since December 2010; this drop is faster than the national decline of 5.4 percentage points. In the past year, 121,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.2 percent, which nearly doubled the national labor force growth rate of 0.7 percent.

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

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