Today, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Florida’s economy is booming, according to September’s economic activity report. The statistics demonstrate that, under DeSantis’ leadership, Florida is a crucial driver of Joe Biden’s economic recovery.
Florida’s economy grew at three times the nation’s rate overall in September and added 84,500 total jobs, including nearly 73,000 in the private sector. September marks the 17th consecutive month of private-sector job growth. Florida has gained more than one million jobs since April 2020.
“While the entire nation gained 194,000 jobs in September, Florida gained 84,500 jobs in the same month — we are outpacing the nation in job growth and job opportunities because businesses know that Florida will stand up for them,” said DeSantis. “Despite tremendous national headwinds and economic uncertainty, Florida has reached a level of job growth only seen on four other occasions in the past 30 years. We will continue to work hard to keep Florida open, free, and built for opportunity.”
Jobs are increasing in the state as the workforce also expands. Florida has experienced 11 consecutive months of labor force increases, adding 50,000 workers in September. Net migration to Florida from other states continues and is part of a 5.4% increase in the number of workers in the state year-over-year. By comparison, the national rate of workforce expansion is 0.8%.
While Florida continues to see consistent labor force gains, the nation saw a drop in the number of Americans seeking work. This trend could signify that jobseekers in other states are losing confidence in finding employment opportunities and have stopped looking for work.
Florida’s labor force increased by 540,000 year-over-year, with 423,000 of that increase occurring in the last six months. DeSantis credits the success of the state’s “Return to Work” initiative as more Floridians return to the labor force. For Americans seeking a fresh start post-pandemic, opportunities still exist in Florida. Currently, more than 520,000 jobs are posted online.
“Florida continues to provide meaningful job opportunities for individuals moving to our state and entering our labor force. With our unemployment rate decreasing and labor force increasing, we will work to further this great success by making investments that continue to strengthen our economy and increase our state’s resiliency,” said Secretary Dane Eagle of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
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DeSantis is also determined to keep people working. On Thursday, he announced a special legislative session to protect workers in the state from COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The legislature also plans to provide protections for public-school students.
Florida law protects parents’ freedom to manage the healthcare decisions of their children, including the decision to wear a mask to school or not. However, several school districts continue to violate state law. Additional protections are needed to hold violative districts accountable. Even if Biden backs off the vaccine mandates, DeSantis believes these protections would still be warranted.
In addition, DeSantis and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced an aggressive legal challenge to federal mandates and their plans to challenge Biden’s OSHA rule. In the announcement, DeSantis asserted that the vaccine mandates are not about health or science. Florida’s COVID-19 cases have fallen 95% since the summer peak. The state now ranks 48th in the country, with an average of 10 new cases per 100,000 residents daily.
In an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show Thursday, DeSantis asserted that no one should lose their job over the vaccine and that Biden’s mandate is unconstitutional. He added that the mandate is a terrible policy for the economy. Employers are having trouble finding workers for open jobs, and a vaccine mandate will make things worse, especially in healthcare, where shortages already exist. For these reasons, DeSantis is calling for legislation and legal action.
He added, “There are businesses doing it on their own, even apart from the mandates. These are employees of theirs that have been working throughout this whole pandemic, and now they’re being told, ‘You get your walking papers'” Then he shared an individual case: “We had a nurse today at our event. She has already had COVID, and she’s pregnant right now. So she says, ‘I think this is something I don’t want to do.'” Then he asked, “How is that something that you are going to deprive her of a right to make a living based on that very reasonable decision?”
Carlson asked if DeSantis expected retaliation from the White House since vaccine mandates are central to the agenda. The governor explained that the administration had already retaliated by limiting monoclonal antibodies to the state for its effective early treatment program. Carlson ended the interview after a discussion about Florida’s ability to take delayed shipments in its ports by saying, “The more Florida acts like a country right now, I think the better for all of us. Just my view.”
A growing economy with jobs available and ports open 24/7 to relieve supply chain shortages that make inflation worse. It sure sounds like a pretty great country that is very different from America right now.
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