Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that December 2018 marked 45 consecutive months of the Orlando area having the highest job creation in the state, adding 52,400 new private-sector jobs in the past year. The unemployment rate in Orlando was 3.0 percent, down 0.3 percentage point from one year ago. Statewide, Florida businesses created 241,000 new private-sector jobs in December 2018.

To see the statewide job creation information, click here.

The industries with the highest growth over the year in the Orlando area were professional and business services with 15,400 new jobs, construction with 11,400 new jobs and leisure and hospitality with 10,100 new jobs.

In December, the Orlando area was second among state metro areas in job demand with 44,675 job openings. Orlando also remained the second-highest metro area in demand for high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations with 13,463 openings.

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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