Scott's jobs promise takes a hit despite May growth

Gov. Rick Scott has more ground to make up than he did a month ago on his campaign pledge to create 700,000 jobs in seven years.

Even though Florida gained 5,300 jobs in May, the state lost more jobs in April than originally predicted -- about 10,300, or four times as many as first thought.

That brings Scott's total jobs count to 105,500. If you exclude his first month -- and he does -- the count becomes 82,600.

A similar effect happened in March, when economists revised a preliminary figure for January to a dismal loss of 38,600 jobs.

Economist Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida, said this kind of drop-off is not unusual.

The monthly employment numbers start out as estimates based on sample data. The sample data is revised later on, and the changes can move up or down. Those revisions stand until the once-a-year "benchmarking” process occurs. It's usually in March and usually involves examining unemployment insurance reports from employers.

Scott instead tends to focus on the state's declining unemployment rate. In May, Florida joined three states in posting the most significant year-over-year decrease in unemployment rates, dropping 2 percentage points since May 2011 to 8.6 percent.

It's understandable he wouldn't brag about the state's lagging number of new jobs, but that's what he promised to improve. The total so far is well short of what he pledged on the campaign trail and in a statement modifying his goal. (PolitiFact Florida has documented his changing math on the jobs promise.)

Scott the campaigner repeatedly said job creation under his administration would come on top of normal growth, bringing the total to 1.7 million new jobs. But Scott the governor adjusted that total last fall, saying he would work to create 700,000 jobs regardless of predictions.

In order to satisfy what he promised on the campaign, Florida needed to create an average of 20,238 jobs per month for seven years. His lowered goal would require 8,300 new jobs a month.

But 17 months into office, Scott is creating an average of 4,859 jobs a month.

That's well below what he needs to satisfy his biggest campaign pledge. This promise remains Stalled.