Governor Rick Scott Announces
September 2011 Job Creation Numbers
Today we learned that Florida’s unemployment rate for September is 10.6 percent, down 1.3 percentage points since I took office. This puts our unemployment rates over the last five months at the lowest in two years while the national unemployment rate has gone up 0.1 percentage point during the same time period.
I am even more pleased by our job creation numbers. Florida has gained 110,300 private sector jobs while shrinking the size of government. That’s a net gain of 23,300 jobs in September alone, and a total net gain of 92,400 jobs since January.
Perhaps most significantly, Florida’s 12-month job growth percentage rate (+1.3 percent) has outpaced the nation’s (+1.1 percent) for the first time in three-and-a-half years (since February 2007).*
I cannot take full credit for this positive news. Florida is on the right track, thanks to the collaborative effort of the Florida Legislature, who last session passed business tax cuts and shared my vision for making Florida the best state in the country to do business, and to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, city and county governments, who along with the state provide incentives for companies to create jobs here, and to everyone in my administration who has played a role in growing jobs. Most importantly we must recognize the businesses who are actually taking risks to create jobs in Florida every day.
Florida is trending in the right direction, but we know that with many Floridians still out of work, there is still a long road ahead, and we could face tougher times before our actions to turn the state around begin to have a lasting impact.
This month I unveiled my job creation and economic growth agenda for the coming year. I will continue to prioritize our efforts to streamline regulations, provide tax relief, and work with the Legislature and our other state leaders to do what it takes to create the jobs needed to get Floridians back to work.
Over the next several days I will be meeting with Brazilian tourism officials and companies to attract more visitors and business to our state. I am joined by 180 delegates from Florida, representing more than 115 business organizations and we are looking forward to a great trip. Florida means business. I mean business, and together we are getting our state back to work.
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