Florida Jobs Report: Recovery Not Expected Till 2010

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida’s unemployment rate lowered slightly in April. The figure fell 0.2 percent from March’s 9.8 percent to 9.6 percent, which was somewhat higher than the national average of 8.9 percent. Despite this small decrease it may be sometime before the Florida job market recovers.

Recently Wachovia Economics Group released a 21-page report discussing how the recession will continue to affect Florida, even after the rest of the nation has begun to show signs of recovery.

Before the housing market crash, the state relied heavily on its real estate market. Constant need for new housing projects created construction and other jobs, but when rising unemployment and other economic factors begun to make buying a home more difficult for many the industry begun to struggle.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the construction sector alone has seen a 19 percent decline in jobs over the course of the last year. Employers in this industry have been forced to do away with more than 101,000 jobs as the demand for new homes in Florida fell. This need isn’t expected to rise again until after the saturated housing market is cleared off the majority of its excessive properties.

Although this is not good news for those who work in the industry or are in the process of trying to sell their home, buyers can expect better their dollar to go further even after the state begins to recover. Home prices will likely stay significantly lower than they were pre-real estate bust until the demand is drastically increased.

The state’s heavy ties to its real estate market are part of the reason the Wachovia Group doesn’t expect Florida to really start recovering till late 2010 or the beginning of 2011. This is around a year longer than it is expected to take many others across the country to start seeing significant signs of improvement.

During the wait for recovery, the Wachovia Group expects to see unemployment continuing to rise as more jobs are lost – a fact that could mean that restoring Florida to its former strength could also take longer than is predicted for other states. According to the report, joblessness in the area is expected to hit as high as 12 percent, a figure that does not even begin to take into consideration disheartened job seekers who have given up on finding employment.

Since the onset of the recession Florida has seen the loss of more than 700,000 jobs already. So far this year, employers in the area have had to do away with approximately 430,000 positions.