TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced the Jacksonville area added 20,300 new private-sector jobs in the past year, creating the third-highest number of jobs among all Florida metro areas. The area’s unemployment rate was 3.1 percent in January, down 0.7 percentage point from one year ago.

The industry with the highest growth over the year in the Jacksonville area was professional and business services with 7,100 new jobs.

Statewide, Florida businesses created 31,500 new private-sector jobs in January 2020. Florida’s annual private-sector job growth rate of 2.1 percent continues to exceed the nation’s rate of 1.5 percent. Florida’s unemployment rate of 2.8 percent represents a drop of 0.6 percentage point over the year. This is while 179,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.7 percent in the past year.

To view the January 2020 employment data, visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.   

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