Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersNovember 16, 2018

Florida added 21,000 new private sector jobs in October, and the state’s unemployment rate notched down to 3.4 percent, the lowest it has been since just before the Great Recession ravaged Florida starting in late 2007. The jobs numbers were announced Friday morning by Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The […]

Ryan NicolOctober 31, 2018

Ahead of President Donald Trump‘s Halloween visit to Florida later in the day, Florida Democrats warned voters not to get “tricked” regarding the GOP’s record before next week’s midterm election. Democratic U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor, Ted Deutch and Val Demings spoke to reporters Wednesday, highlighting what they see as flaws in Republicans’ agenda during the 115th […]

A.G. GancarskiJanuary 3, 2018

Tuesday saw Florida Gov. Rick Scott in Jacksonville, trumpeting job growth at St. Johns Marine Group, a full-service ship repair and maintenance company in Jacksonville. The company has added 20 jobs recently. Events like this are familiar scenes for media in Northeast Florida and urban areas of the Sunshine State. Scott touts job creation, but there […]

Scott PowersJune 1, 2017

In an ironic economic twist painful to some, Florida’s agencies charged with helping unemployed people find jobs are facing budget cutbacks because of the state’s declining unemployment rate — and some now are forced to lay off a few of their own workers. CareerSource Florida‘s 24 regional CareerSource agencies are facing budget cuts, some deep, […]

William PatrickJanuary 11, 2017

Florida’s state economic development efforts are “underperforming,” according to a new legislative report. An undesirable label by any standard, critics and lawmakers already skeptical of providing taxpayer support for private businesses are likely to seize on the bureaucratic euphemism and underlying findings to bolster their anti-incentives position ahead of the March state legislative session. The Office […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterSeptember 16, 2016

Florida’s unemployment rate remained steady in August, marking the fourth straight month the state reported a rate of 4.7 percent. The state added 22,600 private-sector jobs across the state in August, bringing the total number of jobs created in 2016 to 167,100. The unemployment rate remains at 4.7 percent, one of the lowest rates since […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 16, 2016

On Friday, Gov. Rick Scott announced some good news for Jacksonville: year over year, the Northeast Florida metropolis is up 24,300 jobs, with unemployment at 4.7 percent. Gov. Scott said, “Our work to create opportunities for every Florida family is working, especially in Jacksonville where businesses added more than 24,000 new jobs in the past year.” […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterJune 17, 2016

The state’s unemployment rate dipped slightly in May, according to new employment figures released by state’s jobs agency Friday. Florida’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in May, down from 4.8 percent in April. The rate is down from 5.4 percent a year ago, according to monthly employment numbers released by the Florida Department […]

Phil AmmannApril 6, 2016

A glance at the March jobs numbers released last week suggests that the national economy is doing fairly well. Over 200,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate was virtually unchanged at 5 percent. The numbers look even better for Florida, whose state unemployment rate has fallen below 5 percent and which has created nearly […]

Scott PowersMarch 25, 2016

The Orlando region continued in February as the state’s leading job-producing metropolitan area and saw the region’s unemployment rate fall to 4.4 percent, Gov. Rick Scott‘s office said Friday. Numbers released by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity show that Orlando’s metro area added 30,000 workers and 40,000 jobs since February 2015, and the result […]

Tag: unemployment rate

Florida unemployment reaches pre-Great Recession low

Florida Democrats on GOP: Voters shouldn’t be ‘tricked’

In Rick Scott’s Florida, job growth is a matter of perspective

CareerSource centers dealing with their own layoffs as economy rises

Florida’s economic development efforts are ‘underperforming’

Florida’s unemployment rate holds steady at 4.7 percent

Jacksonville is up 24,300 jobs year over year

Florida unemployment rate at 4.7 percent in May

Alfredo Ortiz: Helping small businesses will get Florida’s economy rolling

Orlando area adds 40K-plus jobs, sees unemployment rate fall to 4.4 percent in February