Florida’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in June as the state saw an increase of nearly 37,000 jobs. Governor Rick Scott announced the latest employment data Friday in Bonita Springs.
Florida’s unemployment rate for June stands at 6.2%. That’s down from May when unemployment rose to 6.3% and the state lost 18,000 jobs which was the worst job loss in the nation for that month.
The state added 36,900 jobs in June, according to state economists. That’s the largest number of new jobs created in Florida in a single month under the Scott administration. Gov. Scott used the announcement as an opportunity to criticize his Democractic challenger in the gubernatorial race, former Gov. Charlie Crist.
“We’re going to make sure we continue the progress we made over the last three and a half years,” Gov. Scott told reporters, saying that the state lost 832,000 jobs under the Crist administration.
“Now we’ve added over 620,000 jobs. We’re going to continue to do what we’ve done the last three and a half years.”
Florida’s unemployment rate has remained relatively flat in 2014 as more people have begun looking for jobs in the improving economy.
Scott made the announcement at the Southwest Florida-based engineering and manufacturing company Shaw Development which recently announced a $2 million facility expansion and has added 43 new employees so far this year.
