Posted March 17th, 2008 by cheesman

Between December and January more than 36,000 South Florida jobs were lost, continuing a trend that has been going on for at least the last six months. According to a recent unemployment report by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, South Florida jobs are not only disappearing quickly, but that this downward turn in the job market has been going on since last summer.
   
During 2007 approximately 69,000 South Florida jobs were lost in construction alone, most likely as a result of the housing crisis. According to multiple sources, Southern Florida is one of the area’s that has been hit the hardest by real estate strife, which usually effects area employment. As possibly connected were the 19,800 South Florida jobs lost in manufacturing.
   
Recent data shows that this is the worst period of job losses in Florida since the 2001-2002 recession. Rebecca Rust, an economist for the Florida Agency of Workforce Innovation, says that the downward spiraling real estate market is not the only factor hurting  area employment. She believes that the economic slowdown is partially due to the fact that higher gas prices are affecting almost all of the area’s major industries.
   
According to a recent report by the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, the worst is yet to come. The figures showed that it is likely that the unemployment rate will steadily rise from 4.76 percent in the first three months to 5.33 percent by the end of the year.

 This report all included annual revisions to the Office’s monthly figures from last year, which showed that positive reports saying that tens of thousands of new Florida jobs were being created from August through December were inaccurate. Instead data revealed that jobs had been lost with the biggest decrease occurring in November, when almost 27,000 Florida jobs were lost.
   
Originally the report claimed that over 105,700 Florida jobs were created between September of 2006 and 2007. The state agency also said that 111,000 jobs were created in October, 90,200 last November, and 85,800 in December. 
   
Now the revised figures show that the reality is much more grim, showing consistent loss since August. The worst month for Florida jobs was September, which showed a loss of 24,700 jobs. According to the agency’s figures, this is the longest streak of job losses since the 10-month period from November 2001 through August 2002.
   
Despite huge job losses, Florida’s immediate future remains brighter than that of most of the country. While the rest of the nation is experiencing an average unemployment rate of 4.9 percent, only 4.6 percent of Florida’s population is unable to find work. 
   
Nevertheless, the unemployment rate may not continue to fair better than the national average if South Florida jobs do not stop disappearing at such a rapid speed. Right now the weakest area’s of the economy are retail, construction, real estate, and finance.