TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s unemployment rate is holding steady at 3.9 percent, slightly below the national average of 4.1 percent.
State officials released March employment figures Friday and reported that Florida added 13,800 jobs. There were 400,000 jobless Floridians out of a workforce of 10.2 million.
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The March rate was 0.5 percentage point lower from a year ago.
The Jacksonville metro area's rate was 3.5 percent, also down one-half percent from one year ago.
“With more than 21,000 new jobs, families in Jacksonville should have confidence that Florida is the best state in the nation to succeed and raise a family," Gov. Rick Scott said.
The industries with the highest growth over the year in Jacksonville were leisure and hospitality with 4,500 jobs and trade, transportation, and utilities with 4,100 jobs.
Okaloosa and St. Johns counties had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.0 percent, followed by Monroe County at 3.1 percent.
Sumter County had the highest unemployment rate at 5.4 percent, followed by Citrus County at 5.2 percent and Hendry County at 5.1 percent. Putnam County's rate of 5.0 percent tied Miami-Dade for the fourth highest rate in the Florida.