[Vrinda81]

Hi everyone,

I need some honest answers. A friend is thinking of moving to Florida, but I am not sure she would have an easy time finding work. She has a relative in Tampa she can stay with, but I read that the unemployment rate is very high (8.8%). Her college major was in English, and she wants to work in publishing or advertising. She's looking for mid-level work, but I think she only stuff she'll be able to get, if at all, is freelance work, which will not pay much and she cannot live on that alone. She's in New Jersey, by the way. An information would be appreciated.

[THX 1138]

I would highly recommend not moving to Florida without a job already lined up. Florida always had the track record of low paying jobs, even if you were college educated and experienced. Some call it the "Sunshine Tax"....I have seen it, known of people who were well educated and experienced who moved here and took service jobs paying mundane salaries to live the lifestyle which they can barely afford and few landed jobs in their field and/or eventually left, or just gave up on their careers.

Employers are weird here, they don't want to pay often and you will see jobs that require 10+ years of experience, BS/MS degree and pay way below market averages. Employers are also very picky and do not seem to be in a hurry to hire, even people who meet 95% of their requirements. The unemployment rate is higher than what is listed, figure in that Florida has a lot of people who just gave up looking for work.

Another thing about Florida, companies here tend to not be world class, Fortune 500 types of places, tend to be small companies, privately owned and lack good benefits and equally poor salaries.

[Vrinda81]

Thank you, THX. I thought about all this before I saw your post, but I wanted confirmation from someone who has seen this firsthand. I also don't get the unemployment statistics. They only count people who are actively looking for work, but not those who gave up but also want to work. This trend of employers asking for experience that doesn't exist and taking their own sweet time to hire happens here (NJ, NY), but it's not a trend with all employers everywhere here. Luckily, this was something my friend was only considering, because her parents pestered her about doing it, citing the warm weather and all that, but she also wanted to get the facts before she did anything.

[jghorton]

Florida is about the same as everywhere else when it comes to jobs. One reason the percentage seems higher is that construction work has been largely decimated. How are your friend's job prospects in New Jersey?

Relative to the Fortune 500 type companies, Florida is a highly dynamic collection of large markets -- more so than almost any other state, except, perhaps California or New York. That said, no individual is looking for 8.8% of the jobs or even 5%! Everyone only needs to find ONE job each. It helps, however, if one has something more than a liberal arts degree -- An English degree could also be used in Education, if one has an Education degree -- otherwise, prospects for English majors are probably greater in NY, than Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa ... but, who knows.

As others have suggested, it's better to have some solid job prospects, if not a job itself .... whether moving alone to Florida or anywhere else. With the Internet, one can just as easily 'job hunt' online, as in person, but, should be able to say, "I plan to be there (date) for interviews and follow-up. (Sunshine and the prospects of a new life somewhere else ... are good things, but, don't put groceries on the table or gas in the tank).

[Vrinda81]

Originally Posted by jghorton

Florida is about the same as everywhere else when it comes to jobs. One reason the percentage seems higher is that construction work has been largely decimated. How are your friend's job prospects in New Jersey?

Relative to the Fortune 500 type companies, Florida is a highly dynamic collection of large markets -- more so than almost any other state, except, perhaps California or New York. That said, no individual is looking for 8.8% of the jobs or even 5%! Everyone only needs to find ONE job each. It helps, however, if one has something more than a liberal arts degree -- An English degree could also be used in Education, if one has an Education degree -- otherwise, prospects for English majors are probably greater in NY, than Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa ... but, who knows.

As others have suggested, it's better to have some solid job prospects, if not a job itself .... whether moving alone to Florida or anywhere else. With the Internet, one can just as easily 'job hunt' online, as in person, but, should be able to say, "I plan to be there (date) for interviews and follow-up. (Sunshine and the prospects of a new life somewhere else ... are good things, but, don't put groceries on the table or gas in the tank).

She has a teaching degree, but could not get a teaching job here because of so much competition and the interviewing process requires many interviews. She registered with several employment agencies - Office Team, the Creative Group, Creative Circle, etc. - and got some temp jobs in offices and freelance work for publishing companies, but nothing permanent. She got some long-term freelance job with an advertising company, and is waiting to hear back from some recruiters on temp-to-perm jobs.

[thunderkat59]

Work - Florida
An oxymoron.

Even if you could get it, count on minimum 5.00 less an hour than similar job in the north east.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Vrinda81

Thank you, THX. I thought about all this before I saw your post, but I wanted confirmation from someone who has seen this firsthand. I also don't get the unemployment statistics. They only count people who are actively looking for work, but not those who gave up but also want to work. This trend of employers asking for experience that doesn't exist and taking their own sweet time to hire happens here (NJ, NY), but it's not a trend with all employers everywhere here. Luckily, this was something my friend was only considering, because her parents pestered her about doing it, citing the warm weather and all that, but she also wanted to get the facts before she did anything.

Something to consider (especially in Florida) is that the statistics also do not count the "under-employed" given it's primarily a service economy here (retail, restaurants, etc), where the vast majority of current job openings are part-time without benefits.

[Spring Hillian]

All those service workers obviously serve someone so there are obviously jobs that are not service economy related which must outnumber the service related jobs.

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Something to consider (especially in Florida) is that the statistics also do not count the "under-employed" given it's primarily a service economy here (retail, restaurants, etc), where the vast majority of current job openings are part-time without benefits.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

All those service workers obviously serve someone so there are obviously jobs that are not service economy related which must outnumber the service related jobs.

Of course there are non-service sector jobs and I didn't say there weren't. However as the fourth most populated state we are very disproportionately allocated in terms of professional jobs versus service sector jobs and I was providing that information to the OP in order to place the job search into perspective. And let's not forget most of those served by the service sector don't live here, rather they're visiting.

[THX 1138]

Originally Posted by Vrinda81

Thank you, THX. I thought about all this before I saw your post, but I wanted confirmation from someone who has seen this firsthand. I also don't get the unemployment statistics. They only count people who are actively looking for work, but not those who gave up but also want to work. This trend of employers asking for experience that doesn't exist and taking their own sweet time to hire happens here (NJ, NY), but it's not a trend with all employers everywhere here. Luckily, this was something my friend was only considering, because her parents pestered her about doing it, citing the warm weather and all that, but she also wanted to get the facts before she did anything.

Don't let anyone fool you, the job market here is not the same as other places. Only advice I have is to do a lot of research and look at the big picture, not just where you can work and have stable work and plenty of other opportunities to rely on if the one you land does not end up like another Digital Domain in Port St. Lucie.

The salaries here will be way below market averages in other areas, when you figure in how expensive parts of Florida are in terms of the Cost of Living.