TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s unemployment mark held steady from May to June, the state Department of Economic Opportunity announced Friday.
The jobless rate of 3.8 percent reflected an estimated 387,000 Floridians out of work -- 4,000 fewer than in May -- from a growing workforce of more than 10.2 million.
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Gov. Rick Scott, who held a news conference at Hull’s Seafood in Ormond Beach to announce the numbers, issued a statement touting the creation of 16,900 private-sector jobs over the past month.
The state’s unemployment figure bettered the national mark, which rose from 3.8 percent to 4 percent from May to June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Florida was one of 38 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that had no changes in their unemployment rates.
Over the past year, Florida ranked third in terms of overall job creation, with 170,500 new jobs, trailing 359,500 new jobs in Texas and 269,100 in California, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics reported.
The Jacksonville area added 21,600 new private-sector jobs in the past year, creating the third-highest number of jobs among all Florida metro areas, according to the Governor's Office. Jacksonville’s unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in June, down 0.5 percentage point from one year ago.
The industries with the highest growth over the year in Jacksonville were trade, transportation, and utilities, and leisure and hospitality each with 4,500 new jobs, and professional and business services with 4,400 new jobs. The Jacksonville area once again rounded out the top five metro areas in job demand, with 18,248 openings, and had the fifth-highest number of openings for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 4,829 online openings
The lowest jobless marks last month in Florida were found in the Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metropolitan statistical area at 3.1 percent, followed by Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford at 3.5 percent.
The highest unemployment rates for metropolitan statistical areas were in The Villages, at 5.7 percent, and Homosassa Springs, at 5.6 percent.
Next highest was the Sebring metropolitan statistical area at 5.4 percent.
The statewide unemployment rate was seasonally adjusted, while the rates for the metropolitan statistical areas were not adjusted.