Be INFORMED

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Tampa Economy: Unemployment Up...

...and that comes as no surprise to me and many others trying to make a living in this over sized town.
The unemployment rate for June was 10.6% statewide,and the rate sits at 10.7% for the Tampa/Hillsborough County area. That is up some 0.5% from May.
Some more numbers of notice:
392,800
Number of jobs Florida has lost over the past year

88,500 Lost jobs in professional and business services

86,300
Lost jobs in trade, transportation and utilities

80,400Lost jobs in construction

10,000 Added jobs in health care and social assistance, the state's only growing sector

$100M Amount in extended unemployment benefits paid out to Floridians as of Friday

31,513 Number of Floridians expected to exhaust extended unemployment benefits through September.

131,893 Number of Floridians expected to exhaust extended unemployment benefits through December.

Sources: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation; Florida Employment Law Project

The government and other agencies which keep track of such things keep telling you and I that this recession is easing up a bit. That may be true in other areas of the United States, but that isn't happening in the state of Florida. It appears to be getting worse here as the weeks go by, and many of the residents of this state are paying the price.
Unless you are one of those wealthy retiree's that the state is catering to, stay the hell out of this state. You will not find any real work here if you are an hourly worker. You will certainly not be able to live here in any manner to which you may be accustomed. Times are very tough in this area. You'll do better elsewhere.