2024 Report Card
Florida’s economy continued to grow at a faster pace than the national economy in 2024, according to Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting.
“Our labor market in the state is more robust than the national labor market. Population growth continues to take place and fuel this ongoing economic growth. So, hurricanes aside, we've had a pretty good 2024,” he said.
For example, according to Snaith’s latest report, Florida’s unemployment rate is 0.8 percentage points lower than the national rate and job growth remains at 1.4%.
Florida’s economy has been outpacing the nation since after the COVID pandemic in 2020, according to Snaith, in part, because of the state’s continued population growth.
“We already had strong population growth, and then we got a little extra booster from the COVID 19 influx. Now that growth is kind of coming back down to trend, but that trend is a strong one, and it really has become a feature of Florida's economy and not a bug,” he said.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports Florida’s population currently exceeds 23 million, as the state experienced growth above the national average at 2%.
Looking back on the state economy, Snaith said he was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out compared to his previous predictions for 2024.
“In 2023, it was widely expected that there would be a recession. Never happened. And then 2024 continued to surpass expectations in many ways. So yeah, I was wrong about that. But, if you're going to miss, I guess I'd rather be low-balling than overestimating,” he said.
Key Drivers
When it comes to what’s driving Florida’s economy to outpace the nation, Snaith said tourism, construction, and healthcare are among the top drivers.
Nearly 58 million travelers pass through the Orlando International Airport every year.
“They continue to visit our region, and we've got investments that are continuing to be made in our tourism infrastructure,” said Snaith, citing investments into the Orange County Convention Center and Universal’s new theme park Epic Universe.
In addition to an increase in travelers who visit the state to spend their money, Snaith said population growth is causing an increase in construction spending.
“There's a lot of construction still ongoing in Central Florida, not just housing, but large scale public works. All these people and all these cars put pressure on this transportation system. So that's going to continue to need expansion and investing.”
Also according to Snaith’s report, Florida’s growing population “with a larger share of older residents with a higher demand for health services, has supported growth in health sector and will continue to do so.”
2025 Outlook
Although there is a lot of uncertainty ahead in the new year under another Trump administration, Snaith is optimistic that Florida’s economy will continue to outpace the national economy.
“The labor market is historically strong in Florida. We may see the unemployment rate drift up a few tenths of a percentage point in 2025, but even at the higher levels, it still will remain at historically low rates,” he said.
Snaith anticipates this trend of Florida outpacing the nation to last through 2027.
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