Civilian labor force population: 9,427,100
May 2013 unemployment rate: 7.1 percent
Florida hit its lowest unemployment rate since 2008 in April, and the workforce has been growing for 12 months straight. According to the Florida Economic Estimating Conference (FEC), more than 300,000 private sector jobs have been created in the state since 2009, and the jobs created total is expected to hit 900,00 by 2018.
Governor Rick Scott has made job creation a centerpiece of his administration, making a well-publicized push to lure more large companies to his state with tax incentives on top of Florida鈥檚 already low tax obligations. His latest coup is online retail giant Amazon, which announced in mid-June that it would build warehouses in Florida and create 3,000 jobs. Of the five states with the best job growth over the past year, only Florida and Washington have unemployment rates below the 7.6 percent national average.
