Rosenfeld Realty Advisors: FLORIDA 2ND IN NATION IN LONG TERM UNEMPLOYMENT

Howdy folks! This one is bad news and very inconsistent with the other info we have talked about recently. It deserves some discussion. In the past weeks we have written about how Florida is much further along economically than many parts of the country in recovering from the recession. Our retail, tourism and other service related industries are doing very well and growing at a faster pace than the rest of the nation. Now there is this statistic: Florida is 2^nd in the nation in long term unemployment. There are certain statistics, like insurance premiums, that you don’t want to be a nation leader. This is a really bad one, and I think it really reflects negatively on the state’s leadership as they are responsible for this. To that end, it looks back at the recent history on this issue to reveal that Florida had the longest average unemployment in the nation in 2011 and 2012. The article highlights a 57 year old man who lost his job as a television executive. He has been looking for work for 8 months. It highlights another, out of work for 20 months, who was a software specialist. A quick word on these stories, needs to be brought up. There are many jobs/positions, even entire industries, that have simply been eliminated by the recession and will never come back. Companies have figured out ways to reduce the amount of highly paid middle managers or employees and can get by with lower paid younger employees doing these jobs. Workers over 45 without high school degrees have been hit the hardest with an average of being unemployed for 50 weeks, and I really think the lack of construction has fueled this. Clearly the older generation is being impacted and there is little relief on the horizon. Long-term unemployment decreased 5% from 51% in 2012 to 46% in 2013. While that is some progress, it is not going to get the job done. But what can be done to create more jobs?? That is the million dollar question and it is coming to a head in the November election. Not that there are any clear answers there, but the candidates have a different perspective on this issue and how to deal with it and we will see what the voters decide. The track record of Rick Scott on this issue certainly won’t help him but this is certainly not the only issue out there and there are many who do not consider it that important at all. They would like to ignore these long term unemployed, and hope that the issue goes away. It won’t, and you will be hearing about it for as long as the employment crisis continues, so dig in. We are in for a long ride I am afraid.

Florida 2nd in nation for long-term unemployment

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/os-florida-long-term-unemployed-20140208,0,1075160,full.story