Florida jobless rate remains unchanged

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Employment remains steady in Florida as the state's jobless mark held at 4.7 percent for the fifth consecutive month, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.

The employment figures released Friday estimate that 457,000 Floridians were out of work in September.

The number was 3,000 more than in August, but 39,000 fewer than a year earlier.

Florida has a workforce of 9.75 million people.

Gov. Rick Scott, who appeared Friday morning at the new headquarters of Uniform Advantage in Fort Lauderdale, emphasized an estimated 17,900 private-sector jobs created last month.

Over the last year, the Jacksonville area has created 28,700 new private-sector jobs, the governor's office said. The area's unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in September, a decline of 0.4 percent over the previous year.

“The Jacksonville area continues to be a great place for job creators and families to succeed,” Scott said in a news release. “Nearly 29,000 jobs were created in the past year, which is great news. We will continue to do all we can to help Florida outcompete other locations for new jobs so Florida can become first in the nation for job growth.”

The industries with the largest job gains in the Jacksonville area over the year were leisure and hospitality with 6,100 new jobs and education and health services with 5,100 new jobs. The Jacksonville area remains among the top five metro areas in job demand, with 19,019 openings, including 5,425 job openings in high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.

Department of Economic Opportunity figures showed the fields of construction, transportation, warehousing, government, education and health care grew last month in Florida.

Retail, manufacturing and leisure and hospitality were among fields that had month-to-month declines.

While the state jobless rate hasn't changed since May, the national unemployment went from 4.9 percent in August to 5 percent in September.