Florida Also Leading the Nation in Job Creation Across Multiple Industries

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott announced that Florida businesses had the fastest annual private-sector job growth rate of the 10 largest states in the nation. In the last year, Florida added 239,800 new private-sector jobs, the second-most in the nation. Governor Scott also announced that Florida added 11,900 new jobs in the manufacturing industry over the last year, the most of any state. Florida’s manufacturing, construction and professional and business services industries all led the nation in job gains in February.

Governor Scott said, “I am proud to announce that Florida is once again leading our competitor states in private-sector job growth and that multiple Florida industries, such as manufacturing, are leading the nation in job creation. Economic development programs like Enterprise Florida aren’t just crucial to helping our state compete for major jobs wins, but also help diversify our economy. Today’s announcement shows that we are successfully diversifying our economy and we cannot stop now. We must continue to fight for jobs by investing in important economic development programs like Enterprise Florida and VISIT FLORIDA.”

Florida’s private-sector job growth rate of 3.3 percent is outpacing the nation’s at 1.8 percent. Florida has led the nation in over-the-year manufacturing job gains for the last eight months, and Florida’s trade, transportation and utilities industry had the second-highest job gains among all states.

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Cissy Proctor said, “Florida’s strong, diverse job creation is catapulting our state to the top of the nation for economic growth. Our economic development and diversification programs are working as a result of our investment in critical programs like Enterprise Florida and VISIT FLORIDA.”

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