Top 5 Employers in Florida: Which Companies Have the Most Jobs?

It should be no surprise that many of top five employers in Florida are integral to the Sunshine State's booming tourism industry. The companies that offer the most jobs in Florida each have a hand in getting visitors there, entertaining them, or picking up the check.

1. Florida's largest employer is Disney. However, because Disney operates its theme parks as individual businesses, the size of its labor force is not immediately apparent. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's One-Stop Career Centers, the Disney group has five separate entities based in Lake Buena Vista.

• Disney Quest
• Disney's Animal Kingdom Resort
• Disney's Hollywood Studios
• Epcot
• Magic Kingdom

Each entity is estimated to employ 9,000 people. Taken together Disney is estimated to employ 45,000 people in Florida, more than any other company in Florida.

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2. Universal City Development Partners employs 16,000 people after combining its theme parks, entertainment venues, and movie and TV production facilities based in Florida.

Its theme parks include Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure.

It also owns and operates CityWalk, a dining, retail, and entertainment complex, and the Universal Orlando Resort.

3. American Airlines flies nearly 340 flights per day out of its Miami hub, making Miami the airline's largest international gateway. It employed more than 11,000 people as of Dec. 15, 2014 — it started its Miami hub in 1989 with just 275 people.

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Employee classifications at the Miami hub breakdown as follows:

• 3,600 Fleet Service Clerks and Mechanics
• 3,400 Flight Attendants
• 650 Management and Support Staff
• 850 Passenger Service Agents
• 2,400 Pilots
• 300 Reservation Agents

4. ZeroChaos, with an estimated 4,800 employees based in Orlando, is an international staffing firm with offices in more than 15 countries and doing business in 99 of them. In addition, ZeroChaos founder and CEO Harold Mills lives in Orlando.

5. American Express, the credit card and financial services firm, is estimated to employ 4,700 people in Fort Lauderdale. The Florida employer is also known as Amex and is famous for the slogan, "Don't leave home without it."

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