Florida created 36,900 private-sector jobs in June, lowering the unemployment rate slightly for the state to 6.2 percent.
“Florida experienced a record-setting month for private-sector job creation in June with 36,900 new jobs over the month, and a total of 620,700 private-sector jobs added since December 2010,” Gov. Rick Scott said, in a release. “This news is great for Florida families, and Florida continues to have great success in our state’s economic recovery.”
The state news follows positive job creation reports for the nation as a whole, which added 288,000 non-farm jobs in the last month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That has brought the national unemployment rate down to 6.1 percent.
Scott, who is running for re-election, is using the numbers as proof his policies work, while opponents say the recovery of the national economy has helped Florida’s rebound considerably as well.
Scott, however, has tried to show Florida has grown beyond the federal help by using gross domestic product figures. The GDP rose 2.2 percent in June, the third-highest increase in the nation, and above the national average of 1.8 percent. That’s a turnaround compared to GDP declines between 2008 and 2011, the Scott administration said, although much of that time was during the Great Recession.
