Florida’s unemployment rate keeps dropping.
Florida’s unemployment rate for December was 6.2 percent. In November, the state’s jobless rate was 6.4 percent. Private companies added 13,000 jobs in December.
This is the lowest that Florida’s unemployment rate has been in five-and-a-half years. The national unemployment rate is approximately 7 percent.
Florida’s annual job growth rate of 2.6 percent in December 2013 was the fastest since June 2006. The state’s annual job growth rate has exceeded or been equal to the nation’s rate since March 2012.
Gov. Rick Scott has contended the state’s unemployment rate is dropping due to his policies.
“Once again we continue to distance ourselves from the national unemployment rate and create opportunities for Florida families,” said Scott. “In December 2013, Florida experienced another significant drop in the statewide unemployment rate – down now to 6.2 percent, the lowest since June 2008. With 462,100 new private sector jobs created since December 2010, opportunities continue to increase for Florida families and it’s clear that our economic policies are working.”
But state economists have said another reason for the decline is that people were leaving the labor force or had delayed their job search.
Here is Gov. Scott’s video announcing January’s unemployment rate.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.
