Rick Scott: Online job demand on the rise in Florida

Gov. Rick Scott’s office announced Tuesday that online job openings have jumped up over the past year, with July’s openings marking the state’s highest since May 2005.

“The demand for jobs across the state is growing and the good news is that we have many opportunities available for families to get a great job in Florida,” Scott said. “By cutting taxes 50 times – including $400 million this year – we are helping job creators provide more opportunities for Florida families to find fulfilling careers.”

The figures from Help Wanted OnLine represent an increase of 800 listings in the state over June numbers for a total of 273,900 listings last month, with most available openings in the metro areas of Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale.

The statewide increase includes dips of 1,500 openings in Orlando and 600 openings in the Miami area as well as a gain of 300 in the Tampa Bay area.

While Florida posted a gain for the month, it lagged behind other large states. California added the most openings with 12,100 and New York added 9,200. Texas saw a drop of 4,800 openings. Neighboring states Georgia and Alabama saw gains of 3,000 and 4,900 jobs, respectively.

Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Director Jesse Panuccio said the job opening were an important economic indicator and said the July increase showed a “long-term trend of robust demand across the state.”

“The openings are across industries, pay scales, and skill levels,” he said. ”This is good news for job seekers at all points in their careers, and it shows that Florida’s pro-growth economic policies are working.”

The total number of listings in the state has climbed by about 8,000 jobs year over year – an increase of about 3 percent.

Help Wanted OnLine measures the number of first-time online job postings each month as well as the carryover listings from the previous month across 16,000 online job boards. The data series has been produced by The Conference Board since May 2005.