Floridians Suffer From Continued Unemployment Problem

The good news keeps getting easier to find in the monthly job reports. 


Economists cautiously applauded Friday's announcement that employers nationwide added 200,000 jobs last month, sending the U.S. unemployment rate down to a nearly three-year low of 8.5 percent. Almost all of the country's major industries are now expanding payrolls, while layoffs have dropped sharply. Wages climbed slightly in December, as did the average workweek. 


"There is more horsepower to this economy than most believe," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University. "The stars are aligned right for a meaningful economic recovery." 

Analysts still found ample reason for caution in the December employment report, noting the economy faces big threats from Europe and the U.S. housing depression. And some questioned whether the federal data even captures reality. But the report of surprisingly strong hiring growth brought a change in tone from past reports, when new jobs were dismissed as too small to matter much. 


"In the middle of the year, things kind of stalled and everyone got a little scared,'' said Bruce Steinberg, a consultant in Alexandria, Va., who tracks the labor market. "Not too long ago, there was a lot of talk about a potential double-dip recession. I don't think anybody is saying that now." 


The hiring upswing dovetailed with a change in fortunes for Tania Solis, who lost her job two years ago as the manager of a Miami Beach swimwear shop. Money got so tight that Solis sent her teenage daughter to Puerto Rico to live with family. 


But three months ago, Solis landed a job as a sales clerk at Swimland Shops in the Gulfstream Village mall. The pay is about $6 less an hour, but Solis is grateful to have her daughter back home. 

"Things are getting better,'' she said. 


Barney Weinkle thought the job numbers masked a more discouraging reality. 


"I don't think the lowered unemployment rate is really representative of what's going on in America today," said Weinkle, owner of a sports collectibles shop and a pizzeria at Gulfstream in Hallandale Beach. "People are struggling, doing jobs that they don't want to do." 


He counts among his pizza workers a recent college graduate, and the owner of a defunct construction company. "The prospects of the economy coming back quickly are not good," Weinkle said. 


Local employment data for December won't come out until Jan. 20. In November, Broward's unemployment rate was 8.9 percent, slightly above the national rate. Florida Unemployment hit 10.2 percent in Miami-Dade. Both were the lowest since early 2009. The national unemployment rate was the lowest since February 2009. 


SKEPTICISM 


Mark Vitner, a Wells Fargo economist who follows Florida, gave Friday's report a middling grade, saying he was skeptical the encouraging numbers were justified. 


"I would love for this to be the start of a virtuous cycle,'' Vitner said, using a term for job growth fueling higher spending, which in turn prompts companies to hire more. "But I am almost certain we are going to see more bumps in the road." 


The ongoing real estate crisis continues to work against the job market in South Florida. Nationally, construction jobs were up almost 2 percent in December. Construction employment in Broward is down 34 percent compared to the prior year, making it the county's hardest-hit sector. Miami-Dade is losing three times as many finance jobs as it is construction workers, as a ravaged lending industry continues to lick its wounds. 


At Miami's Apollo Bank, Chairman Eddy Arriola plans on bucking his industry's employment trends by bringing on a few new executives this year. The new bank is opening branches in Coral Gables and Miami Lakes, and Arriola said he has an ample supply of candidates for all positions. 


"There are a lot of people either available or looking,'' he said. "If I wanted to book 40 hours a week with people just wanting to talk about jumping ship, I could." 

Manufacturing also remains a drag on hiring in South Florida, continuing an unemployment decline that began in the late 1990s. Manufacturing has been on the rebound nationwide since early 2010. 


HOT JOBS 


This year, most of the new jobs in South Florida and the nation as a whole have come from the same three industries: healthcare, professional services and tourism. 


Broward is up about 4,700 jobs since last year, and almost 60 percent of the new positions come from tourism. 


Miami-Dade is enjoying a broader recovery on the hiring front, adding nearly 18,000 new jobs from a diverse list of industries. The combined category of health and education accounted for 30 percent of the new jobs during the last 12 months. Professional services holds the No. 2 slot, at 24 percent. Retail finishes third at 17 percent, followed by tourism 11 percent. 


Thanks largely to South Florida's ties to Latin American markets, the transportation and warehousing sector also remains a bright spot for jobs. Transportation and warehousing accounts for about 7 percent of South Florida's new jobs, almost double the national average. 


"It's pretty busy here,'' said Luis Benitez, director of operations for Goya's new warehouse in western Miami-Dade. The maker of foods with a Latin flair brought in about a dozen new workers this summer for the expanded facility, which ships goods throughout Florida. Two shifts span 18 hours, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Benitez said the hardest jobs to fill are skilled truck drivers. 


Ann Machado, owner of the Creative Staffing employment firm in Kendall, said she's seen companies shift their focus from restraining costs to expanding payroll in recent months. 


"Six months ago, they wanted a Rhodes scholar at minimum wage,'' she said. "Now if you show them talent, they'll pay what they have to get that talent."



#florida #unemployment




Source: Mark Quinones, of Unemployment-Extension.Org.