JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —Governor Rick Scott announced today that Jacksonville saw an increase of 22,100 new private-sector jobs over the year in May. The area’s unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent in May, a decline of 1.3 percentage points in the last year.

The industries with the largest job growth over the year in the Jacksonville area were leisure and hospitality with 6,800 new jobs and education and health services with 5,500 new jobs. In May, the Jacksonville area ranked fifth among the metro areas in job demand, with 20,136 job openings, including 5,560 job openings in high-wage, high-skill STEM occupations.

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 Northeast 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.

###