Gov. Scott: Online Demand for Jobs Up 78 Percent

Press Release

Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that the number of available online job openings in Florida is up sharply over the previous year, with 271,126 postings in September 2013. Labor demand in Florida bottomed out in April 2009 at 152,181 ads and has increased by 78.2 percent since then. The Governor made the announcement at the Gatorade manufacturing facility in Kissimmee.

Governor Scott said, "Despite Washington's failure to announce jobs figures this week, I'm proud to announce that Florida had more than 271,000 online job postings in September. Florida job posting are up 78 percent since April 2009. That's incredible news and is another great sign that Florida's private sector is continuing to grow jobs and opportunities for Florida families."

According to the Help Wanted OnLine data series from The Conference Board, the number of job postings in Florida in September 2013 increased by more than 3,059 from September 2012. Florida's September job postings were the highest since January 2006.

Major occupational groups with the most online ads in September 2013 were sales and related occupations; healthcare practitioners and technical occupations; office and administrative support occupations; and management occupations. Online job demand was strongest in the large metro areas, led by Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale.

"Businesses are looking to capitalize on the economic climate that Florida has created -- a low-tax, sensible-regulation climate that promotes growth across industries," said Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. "With the unemployment rate at 7.0 and job demand increasing, Florida is becoming the best place in the nation to do business."

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical (STEM) occupations also increased over the year with 57,484 job postings in September 2013. STEM labor demand in Florida bottomed out in January 2010 at 33,477 ads and has increased by 24,007 openings since then. Major occupational groups with the most online STEM ads in September were healthcare practitioners and technical occupations; computer and mathematical occupations; business and financial operations occupations; and architecture and engineering occupations.

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