Southwest Florida Added 3,700 New Jobs Over the Year

Governor Rick Scott announced today that the Southwest Florida area added 3,700 new private-sector jobs in the last year and continued to have low unemployment rates. The Naples area’s unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, 0.9 percentage point less than it was a year ago. Fort Myers’ unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, down 0.9 percentage point in the past year. Statewide, Florida businesses created 13,900 new jobs in November and the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent, the lowest rate in more than a decade. Since December 2010, Florida businesses have created 1,465,800 new private-sector jobs.

Governor Scott said, “Over the past seven years we have worked relentlessly to turn around Florida’s economy by cutting taxes and reducing burdensome regulations, and it is great news that Florida’s unemployment rate has reached a 10-year low. It is clear that businesses are growing and families are finding new opportunities across the state, and we look forward to another great year of job creation in 2018.”

The industry with the highest job growth in Naples over the year was construction with 1,500 new jobs. In November, the Naples area had 4,609 job openings, including 740 for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

The industry with the largest job gain in Fort Myers over the year was professional and business services with 1,400 new jobs. In November, the Fort Myers area had 8,610 job openings, including 1,430 high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

In the last year, 199,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 2.0 percent. This rate is nearly three times the national labor force growth rate of only 0.7 percent. In November, 16,990 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Southwest Florida and the state’s other 23 local workforce boards.