Florida now has experienced 20 consecutive months of job growth and 14 consecutive months of labor force increases, the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity reports. The state continues to outperform national figures. In December 2021, the labor force was up 29,000 from the previous month, bringing the total number of people employed in the month to 10.6 million. Florida businesses gained 11,900 private-sector jobs in December 2021 compared to the previous month. The state’s unemployment rate is 4.4 percent, having decreased by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. Florida businesses created 479,300 total jobs in 2021, increasing by 5.6 percent over the year, faster than the national job growth rate of 4.5 percent. Florida’s labor force today is greater than it was in February 2020, before the coronavirus hit, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reports. In the past year, Florida’s labor force grew by 6.1 percent, more than …