Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the Pensacola area added 4,900 new private-sector jobs over the year in January. The area’s unemployment rate declined by 0.8 percent over the year to 5.1 percent in January. Florida has added 1,060,800 private sector jobs since 2010. Governor Scott will celebrate this great news today on his five-city “Million, Billion Jobs Victory Tour.”
Governor Scott said, “With nearly 5,000 new jobs created over the year in January, it is clear that our focus on cutting $1 billion in taxes over the past two years and making Florida the most business-friendly destination has helped create new opportunities for families in Pensacola. We will keep working to support this type of growth across the state so Florida can become first for jobs.”
The industries with the largest job gains in the Pensacola area over the year were leisure and hospitality with 1,300 new jobs; trade, transportation, and utilities with 1,100 new jobs; and professional and business services with 1,000 new jobs. The area had 4,080 job openings in January, including 1,037 openings for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations.
Florida created 36,000 private-sector jobs in January, and a total of 1,060,800 private-sector jobs since December 2010. Florida’s statewide unemployment rate for January remains steady at 5.0 percent. In January, more than 28,843 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Escarosa and the state’s other 24 regional workforce boards.
To view the January 2016 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.