That’s the good, or at least less than gloomy, news: Flagler County’s unemployment rate in March took its biggest dive in a year, shedding 0.4 percentage points to settle at 16.6 percent, the lowest rate since October. In March 2009, it dropped 0.4 percentage points to 14 percent, but only to resume a steep rise the next six months. In actual numbers, 5,492 county residents were out of work in March, down from February’s 5,606.
Nevertheless, Flagler remains Florida’s hardest-hit county by far in the proportion of its unemployed. Hernando is second, at 15.1 percent, followed by Marion (15.0), St. Lucie (14.6) and Hendry (14.1). Volusia County is 20th, with 12.7 percent unemployed. Volusia’s actual number of unemployed persons, 32,180, dwarfs Flagler’s.
Click On:
- Where and how to file for unemployment
- US Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs, 1st Increase Since 2007
- From January: 16.9% Unemployment in Flagler, 11.6% in Fla.
- Complete March 2010 Employment Report
The lowest unemployment rate in the state is in Liberty (7.3 percent) and Leon counties (8.2 percent), the two counties where state government employees live and sleep, and where jobs tend to be lost in fewer numbers. Monroe County’s rate is second-lowest at 7.7 percent.
In Florida as a whole, the unemployment continues to climb to post-Depression records. It hit 12.3 percent in March, with a loss of 4,000 jobs and a total of 1,138,000 people unemployed–despite the hiring of thousands of Census workers, and despite an overall national trend pointing to more job creation in the last two months.
Florida still lags behind most states in spending federal stimulus dollars. But Florida also is receiving considerably less in stimulus dollars than other states. The national average in stimulus dollars is $1,029 per American. In Florida, it’s $832 per Floridian–almost 20 percent less. On April 9, however, Gov. Charlie Crist broke ground on a 1-mile, $390 million construction project (or $6,155 per inch), the I-4/Selmon Expressway Connectorin Hillsborough County, which is expected to create several thousand jobs between now and its completion date in the summer of 2013.
Florida’s unemployment numbers are under-estimates, in that they do not reflect the number of people who have abandoned the search for work. The numbers are also masked by the proportion of people who are employed part-time but wish to be working full time.
Over the past year, sectors losing the most jobs include construction (13.7 percent), manufacturing (7.8 percent), insurance and finance (5.2 percent) and real estate (4.6 percent). The only significantly winning job sectors over the past year were education and health, which increased job rolls by 4.1 percent.
Jim R. says
Unemployment , will soon be the permanent status of most of us.
Growth of the economy will be a thing of the past , and growth itself an enemy of the human condition.
Living on a smaller and sustainable level, the only option.
Population control an absolute necessity.
The party is over. Its called peak oil, and its effects are already starting and will accelerate.
Now that I’ve got that good news off my chest, it’s spring, enjoy.
Google “The End Of Suburbia”, or Read “The Long Emergency”
William says
It does make one wonder why, exactly, Wall Street is once again basking in the glow of profits and rising stock market numbers. The term “jobless recovery” has been bandied about, though I consider the words to be mutually exclusive.
Reality check:
The last three treasury bond auctions have been an absolute bust, resulting in the 10-year T-bill interest rates to flirt with the 4% mark. This is as clear an indication as any that foreign investors and governments have had their fill of buying American debt. Additionally, figures recently released by Realtytrac show foreclosures returning with a vengeance. Commercial real estate is on the ropes. Hundreds of trillions in credit default swaps are still lurking in the shadows. And on and on it goes.
Now, as if to add insult to injury, the Icelandic volcanic eruption is creating difficulties in international commerce, tourism, and basic governmental functions. I’m just sitting here waiting for the (long predicted) other shoe to drop.
walter deyoung says
4/18/10
Responding to Jim R
Wouldn’t it be great if Atomic Energy really were clean, and if it didn’t take more fossil fuel energy to create than is returned and if there really was a way to store the waste for 100’s of thousands of years?
And wouldn’t it be great if Ethanol was an answer ~ but it also takes more fossil fuel energy to produce than is returned – while turning our crop lands into deserts.
And wouldn’t it be great if coal could be made to burn clean and safely mined?
And wouldn’t it be great if wind energy were the answer? But, again the fossil fuel it takes to build and maintain the windmills is also a negative.
And dams eventually silt up – and upset the river ecology.
And wouldn’t it be great if solar energy were really pursued and an abundance of clean energy were produced?
Wouldn’t it be great? NO, not without population stabilization – we’d just cut and bulldoze the forests with ‘clean’ energy AND pave the planet with pollution free bulldozers and earthmovers, creating a desert with clean energy machines.
It’s our life style that MUST change – or as Jim R said – Nature will do it for us?
Walt
Jamel Reade says
By this Summer… -The Plans are during the “Works”- even as You go through this! So hang in there, & keep your eyes at the Newspapers & the other Media..
. :)
shellacking says
Unemployment , will soon be the permanent status of most of us.
Growth of the economy will be a thing of the past , and growth itself an enemy of the human condition.
Living on a smaller and sustainable level, the only option.
Population control an absolute necessity.
The party is over. Its called peak oil, and its effects are already starting and will accelerate.
Now that I’ve got that good news off my chest, it’s spring, enjoy.
Google “The End Of Suburbia”, or Read “The Long Emergency”