FT. MYERS, Fla. -- Governor Rick Scott announced Friday that the Ft. Myers area added 7,500 private-sector jobs over the year in August. The area’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, down 0.7 percentage point in the last year.
According to the governor's office, Florida businesses created 22,600 private-sector jobs across the state during August 2016, bringing the total number of jobs created since December 2010 to 1,191,900 jobs.
Governor Scott made the announcement at All Access Multimedia, a marketing and production company in Ft. Myers that specializes in commercials, web video and infomercials.
The industries with the most job growth in Ft. Myers over the year were leisure and hospitality with 3,000 new jobs; trade, transportation and utilities with 1,600 new jobs; and professional and business services with 1,500 new jobs. In August, the Ft. Myers area had 7,577 job openings, including 1,251 high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.
Florida’s statewide unemployment rate remained low at 4.7 percent, the lowest rate since November 2007.
To view the August 2016 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.
