Acting Secretary Meredith Ivey of Florida Department of Economic Opportunity recently stated, “Thanks to Governor DeSantis’ commitment to Florida’s future, Floridians can trust in Florida’s workforce, businesses and communities for years to come. Florida’s unemployment rate is consistently below the national average and the private sector continues to generate jobs, creating nearly 30,000 jobs over the month in January 2023.”
In addition to the newly created jobs factor, Florida has also continued positive trends in other economic areas which demonstrate continued strengthening and dominance of Florida’s economy. Florida’s job growth has monopolized the nation’s job growth for 22 consecutive months with the private sector employment growing at a rate of 5.3% or 433,100 jobs annually in January 2023. Florida exceeded the national private sector job growth rate of 3.6% by 1.70%. The largest job gains were in the leisure and hospitality industry with 16,100 new jobs, education, and health services with 4,900 new jobs, financial activities with 4,900 new jobs and other services with 3,200 new jobs.
In addition to the positive job growth, Florida’s labor force grew from January 2022 to January 2023 by 2.4% or 259,000 residents. Overshadowing the nation’s labor rate growth of just 1.3% for the year. A direct result of Florida being number one in net migration. Net migration is the difference between individuals moving into an area minus the individuals leaving the same area.
Florida’s unemployment rate has remained lower than the nation’s unemployment rate for 27 consecutive months. In January 2023, Florida’s unemployment rate was 2.6%, a decrease of 0.1 points compared to the revised previous month’s rate of 2.7%. Florida once again outperformed the nation’s unemployment rate of 3.4%, by 0.8 points below the national average.
Jackson County’s unemployment rate was listed at 3.0%, an increase of 0.5 points from December 2022 and a decrease of 1.2% from January 2022. Jackson County was represented in January 2023 with a labor force of 16,410 and employment of 15,911. Since January 2022, Jackson County has seen a steady decline in the labor force. January 2022 to January 2023 represents a 1.3% decrease in workforce and December 2022 to January 2023 represents a 1.0% decrease in workforce. A shrinking labor force directly impacts the local community and tax bases. If you find yourself needing employment there are 391,000 jobs posted online. Job opportunities can be found through the CareerSource Florida Network and Employ Florida. Both services are provided at no cost.
Governor Ron DeSantis stated “Florida is number one in net migration, tourism, and new business formation because we have bucked the elites and forged our own path forward towards success. We will continue to prioritize policies that support Florida families as they continue to face persistent inflation and national economic headwinds.” Florida’s has once again outperform the nation’s economic factors providing continual stability and vitality for Our Free State of Florida.