MIAMI — Governor Rick Scott announced today that the Miami area gained 20,400 new private-sector jobs in May over the year. Miami’s unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent in May, dropping by 1.0 percentage point in the last year.

The industries with the largest job gains over the year in Miami were construction with 6,800 new jobs and financial activities with 3,300 new jobs. In May, Miami boasted the third-highest job demand in Florida with 30,848 job openings. The area also had the third-highest number of openings for high-wage, high-skill STEM occupations with 7,962 online openings.

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 South Florida 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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