On Friday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.2 percent, as labor force participation increases.
Florida’s economy continues to create new private-sector jobs, adding 215,000 private-sector jobs over the year. The professional and business services and financial sectors continue to grow and supply the need for a diverse, high-skilled workforce.
“I can’t say it enough, Florida’s business-friendly environment continues to attract investment and growth,” said Governor DeSantis. “Prioritizing investments in innovation and talent development while keeping taxes low will continue to advance and diversify Florida’s economy.”
Positive economic indicators for the month of September include:
- Florida’s annual private-sector job growth rate of 2.8 percent continues to outpace the national job growth rate of 1.6 percent.
- The labor force continued to grow with 154,000 entering the labor force over the year at an annual growth rate of 1.5 percent.
The good economic news affects the Tampa area. DeSantis said that the Tampa area added 27,300 new private-sector jobs in the last year, creating the third-highest number of jobs among all Florida metro areas. The Tampa area’s unemployment rate was 2.9 percent in September, down 0.3 percentage point from one year ago.
The industry with the highest growth over the year in the Tampa area was professional and business services with 8,100 new jobs.
The Tampa area remained first among the state metro areas in job demand in September with 56,423 openings. The Tampa area also continues to rank first in the state in demand for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 18,164 openings in September 2019.
