Florida’s new unemployment numbers show the number of people out of a job went down this past month, and is close to a 5 year low.
Florida’s unemployment rate for March of this year was 7.5%, down less than one third of a point from February. The numbers are almost 2% points lower than this time last year, when the unemployment rate was hovering at about 9%. Last month’s numbers come to close to record lows set back in October of 2008. Jesse Panuccio, Executive Director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, said the continuous drop over the past few months is the result of good policies.
“We’ve promoted a low tax, sesable regulation environment, we’ve promoted education, and I think those things are coming to fruition, and so businesses are looking at Florida as the perfect place to come and do business and our citizens are getting back to work,” Panuccio said.
Panuccio said in March alone Florida added just over 34,000 jobs. This marks the 32nd consecutive month with positive annual job growth, after the state lost jobs for over three years. The state is now just below the national average of 7.6%.