[abradl04]

I am desperately seeking some good advise. I am a Lpn trying to finish my rn, I am from michigan and my husband is a construction worker with excellent skills and pride, and we recently left mi due to my husbands lack of work and relocated to baton rouge la for the fact my brother and his family live there. well we are renting and I am miserable. I cannot find a decent job, and I am not picky, and I feel like it is a bad move for our family. I need to know about living in florida, I have a good friend in orlando and my mothers best friend lives in fort lauderdale. So I love the beach as do my children 17,15 8. My husband says he will not move back to michigan he does not like the weather or no work, I have heard florida is not much better in work but I love working with the elderly and my husband can do all types of fix it projects, do ya think it is worth a try or is it another dead end road there? Please help I need to make a decision before august when schools start up again. And we are in or late 30s if that matters. I was looking at Jupiter area looks like a beautiful town, and community colleges for me to finish my school Thank you all so much

[Retiredcoach]

Relatively speaking, both Michigan and Florida are two states being especially devastated by our national economic downturn. The effects are especially being felt in the construction trades. In Florida's case, however, construction has long been a primary industry, but the opportunities are significantly reduced for those lucky enough to be able to find steady work. Competition for employment is keen is most areas of Florida.... it is real tough trying to begin making a living right now. With three kids, family nearby, and the possibility of your husband finding work, you would probably be better served to stay where you are currently. It may be hard for you to withstand the current environment, but there do not appear to be greater opportunities in Florida right now. Good luck!

[Momma_bear]

It is probably easier to get a job in the health care industry than in construction in SF (near Fort Lauderdale). Jupiter is an expensive area but lovely. I am not knowledgeable about Orlando.

[bale002]

retiredcoach's gloomy assessment does indeed reflect the facts.

On the other hand, as Momma_bear points out, health care is one of the industries where jobs may be relatively plentiful.

In addition, it is possible to scrounge out a living as a handyman, especially considering that repairs may be more popular right now than new construction; I know that companies like Home Depot and specialized agencies contract work out to handymen, maybe your husband can get on one of those lists while he tries to build his own book of business.

On balance, however, you would probably need someone to put you up and/or 6-12 months of savings before you could make the right contacts for both of you to secure gainful employment.

I am not familiar with Orlando either, but from what I've read, Ft. Lauderdale is plagued with fewer of the common evils or at least to a lesser degree.

Look, unless you have your own successful business, any place is a dead end, but at least in Ft. Lauderdale you have warm weather and the beach (Jupiter has similar charecteristics).

Hope this helps.

[beachmouse]

RNs and even LPNs are still pretty marketable in much of the state, even though you'll probably take a pay cut from what you'd make in Michigan.

Construction and home improvement right now is not great in much of the state, and it's actually rather tough to get a Florida contracting license in many categories (ie. forget about getting a roofing license until you've been here a while and can prove you somewhat understand and can build to hurricane code). His best bet might be trying to get on as a handyman for an apartment/condo complex or property management company. Those kinds of jobs are still out there to some degree.

[RMD3819]

Construction-forget it. The suggesting about property management is a good one though.

Medical-I had a friend who graduated from LPN school and had a terrible time finding a job. OTOH my wife will be an RN in a few months and we are not the least bit worried about her finding work.

[gypsychic]

I will echo what most of the other posters here have - it is easier to find work in the medical field, but even with that there are no guarantees.

There almost NO work in construction anywhere in Florida. My husband is a project manager for the county and he knows sooooo many people out of work and without any prospects. I would not come here expecting to be employed in construction. If you yourself can get a job in the medical field, perhaps as someone suggested your husband could find handyman work at a condo or apartment complex.

Please consider a move very carefully- there have been sad stories in our local papers recently about people who upped and moved out of Michigan (or other states) came here with no jobs and are about to be homeless. Not trying to be a downer, just hate to see people making a big mistake, which we see here over and over. Florida is one of the hardest hit states in the country for unemployment, and a recent article stated we won't get back to "normal" unemployment until possibly 2018.

Good luck to you.

[Strel]

Don't even think about moving to Florida unless you have employment lined up and it isn't temporary.

Also remember that Florida is a right to work state, which means unions have virtually no power or influence and any employer can fire you at any time for any (legal) reason...or no reason at all.

There is no job security in construction. South Florida is especially bad right now but so is Orlando - and Jacksonville is chronically overbuilt. Here in Tallahassee there is actually quite a bit of construction going on - it's somewhat insulated from the rest of the state's economic woes thanks to the local economy being government/education/legal/medical/tech.

But still...this is really not a good time to be looking for work in this state.

[Magnolia Bloom]

One of the things that your husband might consider is working as a maintenance man for a condo. Someone with construction skills would be a valuable asset, although the work would involve a good amount of mindless clean up type things, it could also involve drywall repair, minor HVAC work, carpentry, lots of fix-it projects. And if he got on with a condo that is developer-controlled, he'd propbably have a foot in the door to get back into his profession when building resumes down here.

[TampaKaren]

There's a good thread about RN salaries in the Tampa Bay Forum. Check it out: RN salary in Tampa area