When Gov. Rick Scott first ran for governor eight years ago, he made job creation a priority of his campaign. The economy was working its way out of a major recession and the state’s unemployment rate in December of 2010 was over 10 percent.

Friday, Scott released his last jobs report as governor and it shows unemployment in Florida continues to drop. Florida’s unemployment rate dropped in November from 3.4 to 3.3 percent, the lowest level in 12 years.

In the past eight years, Florida businesses have created more than 1.67 million private-sector jobs.

“Being Governor is the best job in the world, and I am excited about the economic success that Florida has been able to achieve over the past eight years,” Scott said in a written statement. “Our unemployment rate being at 3.3 percent and nearly 1.7 million jobs being created since December 2010 has allowed so many Floridians the opportunity to live their dreams in the Sunshine State. I will never stop working on what’s important to Floridians – jobs, a great education and safe communities.”

Scott will leave office next month as the result of term limits. He won election to the U.S. Senate last month defeating incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson.

In the past eight years, Florida’s unemployment rate of 3.3 percent represents a drop of 7.5 percentage points, representing a faster drop than the national decline of 5.6 percentage points.

“Florida has remained committed to job creation under Governor Scott’s leadership, providing opportunities for hardworking Floridians in all counties to find meaningful employment,”  said Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Executive Director Cissy Proctor. “Our state has built a strong diverse economy that has Florida families working, Florida communities growing and Florida businesses thriving and expanding.”

The Orlando area led the state for the 44th consecutive month in job creation. The area’s business created 60,800 new private-sector jobs in the past year, making the total number of new private-sector jobs created in the Orlando area 315,400 since December 2010.

The Tampa area remains in second for job creation with 28,400 new private-sector jobs created in the last year. That makes the total number of new private-sector jobs created in the Tampa area 243,800 since December 2010. Tampa’s unemployment rate was a low 3.0 percent.

The Miami area was third in job creation adding 24,200 new private-sector jobs in the last year, and 210,200 since December 2010.