Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the Miami area added 23,500 new private-sector jobs in the last year creating the third highest number of private-sector jobs. The Miami area’s unemployment rate was 1.8 percent in December, down 1.7 percentage points from one year ago.

The industry with the highest growth over the year in the Miami area was education and health services with 11,400 new jobs which also led the state’s other metro areas.

Statewide, Florida businesses created 16,300 new private-sector jobs in December 2019. Florida’s annual private-sector job growth rate of 2.5 percent continues to exceed the nation’s rate of 1.5 percent. Florida’s unemployment rate of 3.0 percent represents a drop of 0.3 percentage point over the year. This is while 220,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, a growth of 2.1 percent in the past year.

To view the December 2019 employment data, visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.

###