Florida’s unemployment rate continues to fall and Gov. Rick Scott will likely use that fact as a selling point when he heads north next week on a trade mission to attract businesses to the state.

The latest figures released today show the unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in May. That’s the lowest it has been since August of 2007.

The private sector created more than 20,000 jobs last month.

“I am proud to announce that Florida’s unemployment rate has dropped to a nearly 10-year low and that nearly 22,000 jobs were created across our state last month,” Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement released by his office. “We are competing against other states and nations for new jobs, and I am proud that we were able to establish the $85 million Florida Job Growth Grant Fund during the recent special session.”

The grant fund was created in last week’s special legislative session.  The fund is intended to promote economic growth through improvements to public infrastructure and individual job training.

The governor will be using the newly created fund to help promote the state’s economic picture when he leads an economic trade mission next week to Connecticut. Scott is making it no secret that the purpose of the trip is to bring new jobs back to the Sunshine State. He says the Connecticut labor market is ripe for the picking.

“Connecticut leaders are out of touch with business,” Scott said of next week’s trade mission to Connecticut. “Governor Malloy’s administration has been trying, and failing, to tackle a budget deficit with an overwhelming collection of increased taxes and fees. Their job growth rate continues to lag far behind Florida and the nation, and Connecticut has lost more adjusted gross income and people to Florida than any other state in the nation.”

The job numbers released Friday show Florida’s unemployment rate has dropped 6.4 percent during that time frame, while the national rate has declined 5 percentage points.

Since Scott took office seven years ago, the state has created 1.37 million new private-sector jobs.