Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Governor Rick Scott announced on April 21 that the Fort Lauderdale area added 25,500 new private-sector jobs over the year in March. The unemployment rate in Fort Lauderdale was 4.0 percent in March, down 0.5 percentage point from a year ago. In the last year, Florida businesses created 233,800 new jobs, bringing the total number of new jobs added since December 2010 to 1,353,000.  

Governor Scott said, “Every new job helps a family find the opportunities they need to succeed. It is great news that the Fort Lauderdale area added more than 25,000 new jobs over the year.” 

The industries with the largest job gains over the year in the Fort Lauderdale area were professional and business services with 9,600 new jobs and education and health services with 5,800 new jobs. Fort Lauderdale job demand remained fourth among the state’s metro areas with 21,479 openings, including 5,251 high-skill, high-wage STEM job openings.  

Statewide, Florida businesses created 60,600 new jobs in first quarter of 2017 and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent. For the fifth consecutive year, Florida’s annual job growth rate of 3.2 percent is exceeding the nation’s rate of 1.7 percent. More than 26,844 Floridians were placed in jobs by CareerSource Broward and the state’s other 23 regional workforce boards.   

To view the March 2017 employment data visit www.floridajobs.org/labor-market-information/labor-market-information-press-releases/monthly-press-releases.