March 29, 2024

Florida TaxWatch Economic Commentary

Florida's 2016 Mid-Year Job Growth

Kyle Baltuch | 7/28/2016

Florida continues to be among the leading states in terms of job creation as we head into the second half of 2016.1 Over the past year, Florida’s total non-farm employment has grown 3.03 percent, the state has added approximately 244,500 non-farm jobs,2 and Florida’s overall employment is among the highest in the state’s history.3 Florida’s unemployment rate has also steadily declined over the past year, dropping from 5.3 percent in June of 2015 to 4.7 percent in June of 2016.4 The Sunshine State was also recently ranked 3rd among “States with the Fastest Job Growth,”5 which highlighted growth in the fields of professional and business services, tourism, and health care as reasons to be optimistic about the future of Florida’s job market.

Gains by Month

Job gains were fairly strong month-to-month over the past year, averaging almost 19,000 jobs.6 Florida added 113,000 non-farm jobs through the first six months of 2016,7 led by a two month stretch from April 2016 through May 2016 when the state’s Non-Farm Employment grew by 61,900.8

Monthly Gains in Non-Farm Employment
Click chart to enlarge.

Gains by Industry

Continuing last year’s trend,9 all major non-farm industries in Florida, except for Information, experienced growth in terms of employment. Over the past year, Professional and Business Services led the state’s major industries in job growth, adding 48,400 jobs.10The state also experienced strong growth in Education and Health Services, Leisure and Hospitality, and Construction, which are all projected to continue to grow.

Job Creation by Major Industries
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics // Seasonally Adjusted, in thousands of jobs
Industry June ‘15 June ‘16 Job Gains (Losses)
Professional and Business Services 1,217.4 1,265.8 48.4
Education and Health Services 1,196.6 1,240.1 43.5
Leisure and Hospitality 1,126.8 1,169.2 42.4
Construction 428.6 454.1 25.5
Retail Trade 1,083.5 1,103.6 20.1
Financial Activities 533.6 552.1 18.5
Government 1,079.6 1,097.2 17.6
Manufacturing 342.2 353.5 11.3
Transportation and Utilities 264.7 274.2 9.5
Wholesale Trade 334.6 340.9 6.3
Other Services 331.0 334.5 3.5
Information 135.5 133.5 (2.0)

1   Arizona State University and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Current State Rankings.
2   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Seasonally adjusted data. Retrieved July 25th, 2016.
3   Ibid.
4   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics. July 2016.
5   Kiplinger. States with the Fastest Job Growth.
6   The average job growth by month for the first six months of 2016 using BLS seasonally adjusted data.
7   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Seasonally adjusted data. Retrieved July 25th, 2016.
8   Ibid.
9   Florida TaxWatch. Florida’s 2015 Mid-Year Job Growth. July 2015.
10   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Seasonally adjusted data. Retrieved July 25th, 2016.

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