The Orlando Metro Area is among one of the American cities adding the most jobs! A healthy job market is the backbone of any thriving city. Across a population, a strong labor market can create a virtuous economic cycle, reducing financial hardship, fueling consumer spending, and attracting new residents.
The United States is in the midst of unprecedented employment growth. The U.S. economy added 134,000 new jobs in September 2018, marking the 96th consecutive month of job growth. In the last five years alone, the number of Americans with a job climbed by 11.2 million, or 7.8%. While steady employment gains are breaking records on a national level, there are parts of the country where employment is growing even more rapidly — in some cases double the U.S. job growth rate.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed five-year changes in employment — the number of people employed — at the metro area level to identify the cities adding the most jobs. Over the past half decade, overall employment rose by more than 10% in nearly 100 metro areas. These cities are largely concentrated in the Southern and Western United States.
The number of employed workers in the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metro area rose by 17.0% from August 2013 to August 2018, the 19th largest increase of any city over this period. Employment in the mining, logging, and construction sector rose by 58.8%, the largest industry-wide increase in the city. The number of transportation and utilities jobs rose by 33.1% over the same period, the second largest increase of any sector.
As the number of employment opportunities in Orlando increased over the past five years, the number of unemployed workers fell substantially. The total number of unemployed workers in Orlando fell from 83,063 in August 2013 to 45,725 in August 2018, and the unemployment rate fell from 6.9% to 3.4%. Over the same period, the U.S. unemployment rate fell from 7.2% to 3.9%.