Title: The State of Working Florida 2011

URL: https://risep.fiu.edu/state-of-working-florida/2011-state-of-working-fl.pdf

Description: Florida was one of the hardest hit states during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, which was brought on by the housing and financial market crashes. Although some industries have gained jobs in the last six months and we are beginning to see some life in the housing market, there are still serious concerns about the possibility of a double dip recession given the very slow economic growth in the nation. There are also questions about the degree of structural changes in the economy underlying the continuing unemployment crisis which could have a profound effect on our ability to recover fully from there cession. In short, more than two years after the official end of the recession, the path to recovery is not yet clear in Florida or the nation. This report focuses on how workers are faring in Florida’s economy, and the overriding theme in 2011 is the stark contrasts in the impact of the recession on different groups of workers. While higher educated workers in higher paying jobs appear to be doing fairly well and even gaining ground in wages, lower educated workers, African American workers, and young workers, are still facing extremely high unemployment rates and wage decreases. During the worst point of the recession 1.1 million people were out of work in Florida, and unemployment reached 12% in December 2010. In the last six months unemployment has come down to 10.7% and 64,300 jobs have been added. However improvement has been uneven, with growth concentrated in a few industries, particularly Health Care and Social Assistance, Accommodation and Food Services, and Administrative and Waste services. In July the state lost 22,000 jobs, mostly due to losses in local government including public schools. Florida’s “jobs deficit” is 981,000, the number needed to make up losses from the recession and keep up with population growth, and it will take prolonged period of steady growth to eliminate this deficit. While certain areas of Florida’s economy have improved, the recession and job losses have meant severe hardship for hundreds of thousands of workers in Florida with wide disparities in the impacts indifferent groups.

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