Florida’s private-sector job growth increased 0.5% in July, far outpacing the national growth rate of 0.1%, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported Friday.
Overall, Florida led the nation in job growth in July, Wells Fargo said in a report.
Bloomberg News
“The state added 44,500 payrolls on net, exceeding the second quarter monthly average of 14,500,” Wells Fargo said Friday. “Gains were fairly widespread with only two major industries experiencing contractions.”
Wells Fargo noted most of last month’s upturn was concentrated in the healthcare and professional and scientific and technical services.
“The manufacturing sector expanded headcounts for the fourth consecutive month despite higher interest rates cooling production nationwide,” the report said. “Meanwhile, leisure and hospitality shed payrolls for the third straight month, led by a decline in accommodation and food services.”
The state labor force gained over 40,000 participants in July, a sign that Florida is continuing to experience robust population growth. The increase in labor force resulted in a slight uptick in the unemployment rate to 2.7%, Wells Fargo said.
“For the last four years, Florida has led the nation with more than 2.5 million new businesses formations and over 1 million Floridians joining the workforce,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
“Florida’s success is the direct result of freedom-first policies that support business owners and job seekers along with record investments in workforce education and infrastructure that spur economic growth,” DeSantis said.
Florida added 42,800 private-sector jobs in July, the largest gain in private-sector jobs since September 2022 and Florida’s 12th highest month of growth over the last 33 months, the state DEO reported.
On a year-over-year basis, the state’s private-sector employment grew by 3.3%, or by 277,000 jobs, faster than the national rate of 2.2% over the same time period. Florida has outperformed the nation in over-the-year private-sector job growth for 28 straight months.
The education and health services sector gained the most jobs among all major industries, adding 14.300 jobs from the previous month, followed by professional and business services adding 10,600 jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities, adding 5,100 jobs.
Broken down by region, the Miami metro area unemployment rate fell to 1.9% in July, a 0.9-percentage point decrease from the July 2022 rate of 2.8%. The Miami area added 42,000 private-sector jobs last month, a 3.8% increase on the year.
The Miami metro area led all metro areas in the state in year-over-year job gains in three industry sectors — trade, transportation and utilities, government and other services.
The industries gaining the most jobs in the Miami area over the year were education and health services, professional and business services and trade, transportation and utilities.
The Orlando metro area gained the third-highest number of private-sector jobs on a year-over-year basis.
The Orlando area added 37,500 new private-sector jobs, a 2.9% rise. Additionally, Orlando’s labor force increased 3.8%, or by 54,715 jobs, from July 2022. The Orlando area unemployment rate was 3.1%, up 0.1-percentage point from 3.0% in July 2022.
In July, the Orlando metro area led all other metro areas in the state in job gains on the year in leisure and hospitality, which saw an increase of 20,900 jobs.
The Tampa metro area gained the highest number of private-sector jobs among all metro areas in the state over the year in July. The area’s labor force increased by 76,751, a 4.6% jump from July 2022. The Tampa area unemployment rate was 3.1%, up 0.2-percentage point from the year ago rate of 2.9%.
The Tampa area led all metro areas in job gains over the year in education and health services, professional and business services and construction.
Data continues to indicate many job opportunities are available, with more than 545,000 jobs posted online.
Last week, Fitch Ratings affirmed Florida’s AAA credit rating, following its downgrade of the United States to AA-plus from AAA.
Florida’s GO are also rated Aaa by Moody’s Investors Service and AAA by S&P Global Ratings.
The Fitch report said the state is “well-positioned to maintain a high level of fundamental financial flexibility through economic downturns, with broad expenditure and revenue controls buttressed by robust reserves.”
The action came after DeSantis said the state had paid off almost one-quarter of the outstanding debt since he took office in 2019.
“The announcement reinforces that Florida’s track record of conservative policy, early debt repayment and strong reserves is the blueprint for states and the federal government to follow,” DeSantis said.
“As excessive spending and irresponsible governance ballooned our nation’s debt to detriment to its credit rating, Florida remains the standard-bearer for smart fiscal policy,” he said.