TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's unemployment rate remains at 8.6 percent in June. That's 2.1 percentage points lower than a year ago.
However, the unemployment rate increased from 8 percent to 8.5 percent in Jacksonville and in Tampa, it rose from 8.6 percent to 9 percent.
While about 800,000 Floridians remain out of work, the latest jobs report shows Florida added 70,000 jobs in the last year.
The industries gaining the most jobs are professional and business services, trade and transportation, and health services.
Florida saw an increase of 9,000 new jobs in June. Gov. Rick Scott says the report shows Florida has a lot of good things going right now.
"So 9,000 more families have somebody who can help put food on the table, pay the rent or pay the mortgage so we're heading in the right direction. There's a lot of good things that are happening right now on top of that. Home sales are up six percent year-over-year, the price of homes is up. The number of people on unemployment has dropped from 568,000 to 328,000 in the last 18 months."
Scott says consumers are also spending more and driving up sales tax collections - a sign of an improving economy.
First Coast News