Florida Businesses Have Created 500,000 Jobs in Just Three Years
TALLAHASSEE—Governor Rick Scott announced today that Florida’s unemployment rate for January 2014 was down to 6.1 percent, the lowest unemployment rate in the state since June 2008. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate has been below the national unemployment rate since August 2013, which was 6.6 percent in January 2014. Since December 2010, Florida has created 503,500 private sector jobs.
Governor Rick Scott said, “With the steady increase in job creation and a five percentage point drop since December 2010 bringing the unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent, it is clear we’re making a positive impact on businesses and families in Florida. We are creating an opportunity economy where businesses can continue to grow, and with more than 500,000 new private sector jobs in Florida in just over three years the progress we have made is evident. We have come a long way in three years, but let’s keep working to make sure every person who wants a job can have one.”
Every March, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases revised historical employment (jobs) and unemployment rates based on a benchmarking process to adjust the data. These benchmark revisions are mandated by BLS and take place this time every year in every state. The benchmark revisions represent an annual change in the level of employment or re-anchoring of survey estimates to actual employment counts from Reemployment Assistance tax records. This process also introduces new population inputs from the most recent Census and other revisions to economic data which leads to changes in the original estimates.
The benchmarked 2013 jobs data showed that the state created more private sector jobs than were originally estimated. Nearly 200,000 new private sector jobs were added in 2013 alone.
Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said, “With a five point drop in the statewide unemployment rate and more than 500,000 new private sector jobs created since December 2010, we have another successful chapter in Florida’s economic turnaround story. More Florida families are getting back to work across the state, and there is still more work to do to foster an opportunity economy for Florida’s present and future generations.”
More Floridians Getting Back to Work
· Florida’s unemployment rate has declined month over month for the last 20 months.
· Florida has created 503,500 new private sector jobs since December 2010, and increase of 40,700 from the original estimate.
· With the benchmarked data, Florida added 40,700 additional private sector jobs from Dec. 2010 – Dec. 2013 from the original estimate of 462,100 jobs.
· Florida job postings compiled by the Help Wanted OnLine data series from The Conference Board showed 278,717 openings in February 2014, an all-time high in the data series that began in May 2005.
Home Sales Robust
· Home sales remain robust as the backlog of existing homes on the market is down by 32.5 percent from December 2011 (Florida Realtors).
· Florida median home prices were up 12.1 percent over the year in January 2014.
· Florida housing starts were up 5.9 percent over the year in January 2014.
Economic Growth Trends Up Across State
· A recent U.S. Census Survey reported that Florida experienced an influx of people moving into the state. Florida also led the nation in migrations from Puerto Rico.
· Florida is running a trade surplus of over $18 billion – with $90.4 billion in exports and $71.8 billion in imports in 2012, up from $86.8 billion in exports in 2011 and $62.4 billion in imports in 2011.
Workforce Boards Assisting in Employment
· In January, Florida’s 24 Regional Workforce Boards reported more than 38,800 Floridians were placed in jobs. An individual who receives employment and training assistance through a One-Stop Career Center and finds a job within 180 days is deemed a placement and may be reported by a regional workforce board. Of these individuals, 10,106 previously received Reemployment Assistance.
· In February, Florida’s 24 Regional Workforce Boards reported more than 37,900 Floridians were placed in jobs. An individual who receives employment and training assistance through a One-Stop Career Center and finds a job within 180 days is deemed a placement and may be reported by a regional workforce board. Of these individuals, 9,620 previously received Reemployment Assistance.
· In 2013, more than 479,000 Floridians were placed in jobs, with 135,384 former claimants finding employment.
Employment data for February 2014 will be released on March 28, 2014.To view the January 2014 employment data click here.
Source: Governor Scott Press Release