Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Florida continues to outperform the nation in economic success. Due to Florida’s strong economy, the state has been able to make record investments in education, infrastructure, and other programs while increasing our State Reserves.
Florida’s reserves will close out at more than $20 billion for this fiscal year and Florida’s revenues have exceeded pre-pandemic estimates by more than $8 billion. No money from the Federal Government is included in Florida’s record $20 billion reserves.
Florida employers have added jobs for 24 consecutive months and the state unemployment rate has remained below the national rate for 17 consecutive months. Florida’s April 2022 unemployment rate was 3.0 percent, down 0.2 percent from the previous month and lower than the national rate of 3.6 percent. In April 2022, Florida’s labor force grew by 3.0 percent (309,000) over the year.
Florida’s private-sector employment continues to show strong and steady growth, with a growth rate of 0.7 percent, more than double the national rate of 0.3 percent.
“By keeping our economy open, maintaining a low tax environment, and being fiscally responsible, Florida’s budget reserves have never been stronger,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.“While Washington, D.C., has consistently gotten things wrong, Florida has consistently done things right.”
The Governor also highlighted Florida’s record-breaking tourism data that showed Florida had 36 million visitors between January and March of this year. This is a 14 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2021, and it is the third consecutive quarter that Florida has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Additionally, in 2021, Florida expanded its market share of overseas travelers to 44.6 percent of the nation’s total. This is the highest market share of overseas travelers that any state has ever achieved and is more than 20 percentage points higher than second place New York which had 22.3 percent of the market share.
It also is more than 10 percentage points higher than the previous record of 34.1 percent, which was held by New York.
The Governor made these announcements while visiting Retro Fitness in West Palm Beach. Retro Fitness moved to West Palm Beach from New York and New Jersey in order to continue operating and opening gyms in the face of unprecedented lockdowns during the pandemic. Retro Fitness’ gyms in Florida have outperformed their gyms anywhere else in the country and the company plans to open 100 more locations across the state.
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