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Gov. Scott Touts Job Creation As Unemployment Rate Ticks Up

Fla. Gov. Rick Scott celebrated the success of Jacksonville's Sweet Pete's Candy in July.
Lindsey Kilbride
/
WJCT News
Fla. Gov. Rick Scott celebrated the success of Jacksonville's Sweet Pete's Candy in July.
Fla. Gov. Rick Scott celebrated the success of Jacksonville's Sweet Pete's Candy in July.
Credit Lindsey Kilbride / WJCT News
/
WJCT News
Fla. Gov. Rick Scott celebrated the success of Jacksonville's Sweet Pete's Candy in July.

FloridaGov. Rick Scott celebrated job creation Monday on a statewide “Million, Billion Jobs Victory Tour,” despite the Legislature’s denying Scott’s request for $250 million dollars for recruiting companies.Florida Department of Economic Opportunity DirectorCissy Proctorsays she’s thinking outside the box to incentivize businesses.

“We’re keeping the taxpayers in mind, and we’re being creative, and so every time we talk to a business, every time we work with a business that wants to move to the state or expand in our state, we have to individually look with them about what their needs are,” Proctor says. “So we just have to continue to be creative.”

Florida’s January jobless rate is 5.0 percent, an increase from December’s 4.5 percent. Jacksonville's is 4.9 percent.

In Jacksonville, about one-quarter of the more than 19,000 job openings that month were in the science and engineering fields. Proctor says there’s growth across the state for jobs that require college degrees.

Overall, the statewide jobless rate has decreased from a year ago.

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Lindsey Kilbride joined WJCT News in 2015 after completing the radio documentary program at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine.