Gov. Scott: Fort Lauderdale Area Added Nearly 30,000 Jobs Over the Year

Statement

Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the Fort Lauderdale area added 29,800 new private-sector jobs over the year in February. The area's unemployment rate declined by 0.9 percentage point over the year to 4.4 percent in February. Florida's statewide unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent in February, the state's lowest rate in eight years.

Governor Scott said, "Fort Lauderdale's falling unemployment rate and the creation of nearly 30,000 new jobs is great news for families. We want Florida to become first for jobs, and that is why we worked to cut taxes over 55 times since 2010, which has saved Floridians $5.5 billion. We will continue to cut taxes and support job creators across the state so Florida can be first for job creation."

The industries with the highest job growth over the year in the Fort Lauderdale area were professional and business services with 6,700 new jobs; trade, transportation, and utilities with 6,300 new jobs; and leisure and hospitality with 5,900 new jobs. In February, Fort Lauderdale job demand was ranked fourth in the state with 27,340 openings, including 7,329 openings in high-wage, high-skill science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

Since December 2010, 1,056,000 private-sector jobs have been created in Florida. Florida businesses created 235,200 private-sector jobs over the year in February, exceeding the nation's private-sector job growth rate. Florida's statewide unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent in February, the state's lowest rate in eight years. Also this month, 34,977 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Broward and the state's other 24 regional workforce boards.

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