Home » Brevard Unemployment Rate Drops To 6.5%

Brevard Unemployment Rate Drops To 6.5%

By  //  January 25, 2014

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State Job Growth Rate Among Nation's Best

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Gov. Rick Scott announced Florida’s job figures for the month of December on Friday, which showed the state’s unemployment rate continued to drop to 6.2 percent.

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Gov. Rick Scott

Brevard County’s unemployment dropped from 6.9 to 6.5 percent, but the data also showed a shrinking work force in Brevard, dropping from 266,085 in November to 264, 799 in December.

In a statement released earlier this morning, Governor Scott said:

“Once again we continue to distance ourselves from the national unemployment rate and create opportunities for Florida families. In December 2013, Florida experienced another significant drop in the statewide unemployment rate – down now to 6.2 percent, the lowest since June 2008. With 462,100 new private sector jobs created since December 2010, opportunities continue to increase for Florida families and it’s clear that our economic policies are working.”

Florida’s annual job growth rate of 2.6 percent in December 2013 was the fastest since June 2006. The state’s annual job growth rate has exceeded or been equal to the nation’s rate since March 2012.

Rep. Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, took to Twitter to celebrate the positive economic news from the report:

crisafulli-tweet

 Data Points Provided by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity:

More Jobs Being Created

  • Florida experienced positive annual job growth for 41 consecutive months.
  • Florida’s job growth month-to-month has been positive for 28 of the last 30 months.
  • Florida has created 462,100 new private sector jobs since December 2010.
  • Florida is expected to create more than 1 million new jobs by 2018, according to the Florida Economic Estimating Conference.
  • Florida job postings compiled by the Help Wanted OnLine data series from The Conference Board showed 285,808 openings in December 2013. This was an all-time high in the data series that began in May 2005.

Home Sales Robust

  • Home sales remain robust as the backlog of existing homes on the market is down by 33.4 percent from December 2011 (Florida Realtors).
  • Florida median home prices were up 11.4 percent over the year in December 2013.
  • Florida housing starts were up 17.1 percent over the year in November 2013.

Economic Growth Trends Up Across State

  • A recent U.S. Census Survey reported that Florida experienced an influx of people moving into the state. Florida also led the nation in migrations from Puerto Rico.
  • Florida is running a trade surplus of over $18 billion – with $90.4 billion in exports and $71.8 billion in imports in 2012, up from $86.8 billion in exports in 2011 and $62.4 billion in imports in 2011.