Governor Rick Scott says the state is on the verge of an increased interest in Florida by manufacturers based on his push for expanding seaports. Scott said this morning on WCOA Radio in Pensacola that the ports are going to drive much of the job growth on which he’s pinned his success as governor.
“Look, as we build up our seaports – we have 15 seaports – by next year, we'll have almost tripled our investment in our seaports, and we've got the expansion of the Panama Canal, expansion to the economies of Central and South America”, said Scott. “And when we do that, manufacturers who want to keep their shipping costs low – guess what they're going to do? They're going to manufacture close to our seaports."
The governor says Florida's 19 million residents are also an attractive market for potential trading partners.
Scott has faced questions this past week about Florida's 8.8% August unemployment rate, which changed little from July. Scott has faced criticism about the fact that some of the drop in the jobless rate stems from people dropping out of the workforce.
Scott, however, points to the 28,000 new private sector jobs instead, saying that’s what he’s focused on, not the unemployment rate. Scott also says the state will create the 700,000 jobs he’s promised by the end of his term.