NAPLES, Fla. -- The construction industry was responsible for about a third of all new jobs in Southwest Florida over the last 12 months, according to new job numbers released by Governor Rick Scott.
Gov. Scott says Southwest Florida has added 6,100 new private-sector jobs over the last year. 4,200 of those jobs were in the Naples area, and the other 1,900 were in the Fort Myers area.
“Florida businesses have created 1.4 million jobs over the past six and a half years and our unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest in a decade, which is further proof that our efforts to cut taxes and grow the economy is helping our state become a national leader in job creation," says Gov. Scott.
He says that industries with the most job growth in Naples over the year were construction with 1,500 new jobs. The area’s professional and business services and education and health services industries also grew substantially, each adding 1,000 new jobs.
In Fort Myers the construction industry added 800 new jobs.
Statewide, Florida businesses created 26,300 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate remained at the lowest rate since July 2007, 4.1 percent.
