Local unemployment rate jumps to 13.4 percent, Rising Florida unemployment numbers tie 1975 record (Miami: lawyer, employment)

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by ozlo

I'll wager Tampa also has a lot more scammers filling up Monster and temp agencies desperately posting duplicate fake ads to keep themselves afloat.

I'd wager that your theory is based on absolutely no facts.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

Since my opening sentence was disturbing to you, I will reword it to say:

No matter where you live in the U.S.A.

Construction did their job. We have plenty of housing available.

Florida's economy has been tourism and agriculture for decades. Only in the past 20 or so years did the housing boom begin and end.

In this world people have to be flexible. Just because you were in construction at one time does not mean you will stay there for your entire work career. Flexibility is the key. If you are in construction and have been sitting on your butt for 2 or 3 years then you are a problem to yourself.

Get over the construction down turn. Go on to something else.

Per this very thread, my posts #'d 41 and 46...

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy30/housingcrashsurvivor/fl-gdp-profiletourism.jpg (broken link)


Tourism is not, as you seem to imply, the biggest part of Florida's economy. I don't know where you get your information from but the US Dept of Commerce shows that leisure & hospitality make up about 6% of our GDP, far from the majority of income here. They show construction to be about the same. Yet construction contributes a plurality of about 20% of our unemployment rate, completely disproportionate to the rest of Florida's economy and indicative that our economy is neither diversified enough nor built upon sustainable industry.

So there is no, as you say, "get(ting) over the construction down turn" until Florida figures out how to be "flexible" in job creation.

Meanwhile, that's quite the attitude you've got about workers being flexible, when their jobs have disappeared and no other industry has yet replaced the number of those jobs which are now gone in order for those workers to be "flexible" even if they wanted to or had to skills to which will all take time and retraining.

As to your initial gesture to rephrase, while I might have appreciated that effort, I question its sincerity considering such a snotting ending but I'll just end this conversation here as my way to "get over" it.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

I'd wager that your theory is based on absolutely no facts.

Facts? Since someone who I've since put on on ignore already told me that numbers don't matter, apparently around here, facts just inpinge on the right to voice your own opinion.

[Spring Hillian]

The charts and figures are wonderful! None of them are going to put anybody to work in anything.

If your field is basically bottomed out, those workers need to find new careers.

What did people do in 1975 when the unemployment rate was this high?

[vaughanwilliams]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

Since my opening sentence was disturbing to you, I will reword it to say:

No matter where you live in the U.S.A.

Construction did their job. We have plenty of housing available.

Florida's economy has been tourism and agriculture for decades. Only in the past 20 or so years did the housing boom begin and end.

In this world people have to be flexible. Just because you were in construction at one time does not mean you will stay there for your entire work career. Flexibility is the key. If you are in construction and have been sitting on your butt for 2 or 3 years then you are a problem to yourself.

Get over the construction down turn. Go on to something else.

Hmmm. I wonder how much sympathy the white collar workers (accountants, tax preparers, etc.) can expect when their jobs are made obsolete by a $19 program bought at Staples. Maybe they can start a lawn service, that seems to be the number one growth industry in Florida.

[88fan4evr]

Well just for the record, my wife and I will be moving to the Tampa area in April. I have been unable to find work in my chosen field here in Texas. We have relatively low unemployment, about 8.2%, and a fairly strong state economy. I guess it has to do more with your chosen profession than other factors. Don’t misunderstand me, I am very thankful to have landed a job in these times...and let’s face it, there are far worse places to have to move to than sunny Florida. Anyway, love all the input I have read on this forum. It has been very informative and there seems to be some nice folks there(in the Tampa area). I look forward to life in our new home and meeting new friends.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Good luck 88 in your endeavors. Considering Tampa's unemployment levels of late, it seems odd to see people move here for a job. But as I read mentioned in an article about economies, one advantage the United States has over Europe is that we can move around more easily to find work if just because we don't have the same language barriers they have. Probably no one will even notice your Texan accent.

Brookings Institute has just published some studies showing the relative standing of 100 metro areas. All Texas' six metro areas are in the strongest to 2nd strongest economic areas. All of Florida's eight metro areas are in the very weakest economic areas.

As to total amount of jobs from peak employment to last quarter 2009, Brookings shows Tampa lost 8.9% of its jobs placing it at 89 of 100 metro areas, the 4th worst of 8 Florida metro areas. Cape Coral came in dead last of Florida and the country at 100 of 100. Here's the interactive map for that Brookings - Quality. Independence. Impact.

For unemployment rates for Dec 2009, Tampa rated 88 of the country's 100 metro areas and the 4th worst area of Florida in that catagory. Here is the map Brookings - Quality. Independence. Impact.

As to the change in the value of goods and services produced (the products of our economy) from peak to 4th quarter 2009, Cape Coral again comes in dead last. Tampa's not much better, ranking 89 of 100. Orlando ranks 38 of 100. I think this is the most interesting and telling of all the catagories as it probably indicates areas with more or less sustainable industry, a good lesson for areas subjected more to painful boom/bust cycles. Though I don't have the details to know what the map is showing and it could be that some areas did not change because they had nothing to sell in the first place. Here is that map Brookings - Quality. Independence. Impact.

[algia]

Originally Posted by housingcrashsurvivor

Good luck 88 in your endeavors. Considering Tampa's unemployment levels of late, it seems odd to see people move here for a job. But as I read mentioned in an article about economies, one advantage the United States has over Europe is that we can move around more easily to find work if just because we don't have the same language barriers they have. Probably no one will even notice your Texan accent.

To clarify the Europe misconception:

1. there are NO language barriers
2. English is taught and mandatory along with either French or Spanish or German depending on what the school has chosen or it's profile, in my school English & French were mandatory
3. ANYWHERE you go in Europe and also Japan & South Korea you can ask anyone if they speak "English" and they will say YES and help you with whatever! In Miami you ca die in the street and unless you ask for help in Spanish you may just die there!
4. In Europe if we want to work in another country we have enough respect for that country to first learn it' s language! we don't go to France and expect them to speak German for us because we're too "precious" and won't learn the language for the country we choose to live in!

[housingcrashsurvivor]

algia
I'm too opinionated for most people!


Quote:

To clarify the Europe misconception:

1. there are NO language barriers


Moderator cut: comment

I'm certain I can find this under numerous sources because I've seen it in the past by noted economists. I wasn't just speaking from opinion, I was paraphrasing authority which has studied the subject in depth. But for now, just to quote wiki as this was an easy find...

Macroeconomics/Employment and Unemployment - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks

Geographical Unemployment



This is revealed by a difference in the level of unemployment in an Geographical Unemployment is caused by geographical immobility of labour, the inability of workers to move easily from one area to another. Usually concerning difficulties within a country, it is affected by the rate of owner-occupation (owning one's own home, rather than renting for example), and barriers to free movement such as changes in the cost of living and family connections. Geographical unemployment can be reduced in two main ways:

1. Alleviating levels of unemployment in the original area through incentives to invest by new companies (e.g. tax relief), government projects, or other targetted programs
2. Reducing barriers to free movement of labour between areas. Notably, the European Union (EU) has reduced the barriers to free movement of labour between countries by reducing border controls. However, language difficulties will remain

And so it is indeed easier for citizens of the United States to move for jobs between states than it is for Europeans to move between countries for jobs. As if that was tough to figure out, regardless of your combative arguments against studied facts. Let's see you move from Romania and get a civil service job in Greece. I'm sure they'll put you right in front of their own citizens. But a Texan getting a teaching job in Tampa, not as such a big deal, obviously. So my statement stands as I wrote it, regardless of your "opinion".

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by housingcrashsurvivor

Tourism is not, as you seem to imply, the biggest part of Florida's economy.

"On the business side, tourism generates more than $6 trillion annually worldwide and supports one in 12 jobs. Seven million of those jobs are in the United States. In Florida — with its abundance of natural and manmade attractions — tourism is crucial. More than 84.5 million people from within the U.S. and throughout the world visit the state each year. Those tourists help provide approximately 1 million workers with jobs and create $65 billion in tourism/recreation taxable sales, making tourism Florida’s No. 1 industry."

http://www.floridatomorrow.ufl.edu/gallery/e_pubs/HHP_CFT.pdf (broken link)