When then-Governor Rick Scott was steering his state’s economic ship, Florida was consistently first or second behind Texas in jobs creation in the nation.
Less than three months after leaving for his new job in the U.S. Senate, the jobs-creation plan Senator Rick Scott put in place years ago is still producing unprecedented jobs growth.
Newly-elected Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has just announced that the state’s annual private-sector job growth rate has outperformed the rest of the nation.
Florida’s growth rate is 2.7 percent, which equates to 207,300 new private-sector jobs, while the national rate is only 2.1 percent.
“Florida’s economy is strong, but we cannot rest on our laurels,” said Governor DeSantis. “We have to build on our success by keeping taxes low and regulations reasonable, becoming the number one state for career and technical education and making smart investments in our infrastructure and environment. Only then can we ensure every Floridian has the opportunity to achieve economic prosperity.”
This year, Florida’s labor force continued to grow with 161,000 people entering the labor force at an annual growth rate of 1.6 percent, up 0.3 percent from December 2018. (EOG Press Release)
DeSantis’ office also release some “other positive economic indicators” of how well the state economy is doing:
- Private-sector industries gaining the most jobs over-the-year were:
- Professional and business services with 54,000 new jobs;
- Education and health services with 35,900 new jobs;
- Trade, transportation and utilities with 29,400 new jobs;
- Construction with 26,600 new jobs;
- Leisure and hospitality with 25,600 new jobs; and
- Financial activities with 16,700 new jobs.
- Florida job postings showed 273,740 openings in January 2019.
- Consumer Sentiment Index is 97.8 in January 2019.
