Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the Naples area added 3,900 new private-sector jobs in the past year. The area’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in December, down 0.3 percentage point in the past year.

The Fort Myers area added 8,100 new private-sector jobs in the past year. The area’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in December, down 0.2 percentage point in the past year.

Statewide, Florida businesses created 241,000 new private-sector jobs in December 2018.

To see the statewide job creation information, click here.

The industry with the highest growth over the year in the Naples area was construction with 1,800 new jobs. In December, Naples had 4,698 job openings and of those, 796 were for high-skill, high-wage STEM jobs.

The industry with the highest growth over the year in the Fort Myers area was construction with 2,600 new jobs. In December, Fort Myers had 9,562 job openings and of those, 1,597 were for high-skill, high-wage STEM jobs.

Florida’s unemployment rate of 3.3 percent represents a drop of 0.6 percentage point over the year. This is while 140,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 1.4 percent in the past year. Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3.2 percent continues to exceed the nation’s rate of 2.0 percent.

To view the December 2018 employment data, visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

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