www.jobberz.com
By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer
As Florida's unemployment soared to 9.4 percent in February — and crept into double digits in the bay area — a familiar culprit lurked behind the data.
Construction jobs, or lack thereof.
Construction accounted for 40 percent of the nearly 50,000 jobs lost statewide from January to February, according to seasonally adjusted figures released Friday. Florida's construction work force has been retreating for nearly three years. In the past year alone, the industry has shed 115,000 jobs, shrinking by 21 percent.
It's no secret that the housing bust paved the way into the recession. Now there's mounting evidence it's keeping the state from climbing out of its economic doldrums.
Blame two fronts. First, we're still waiting for a housing recovery, and second, the credit crunch means builders of office parks and shopping centers can't get financing. They are idle and laying off workers.
"Nonresidential construction had been relatively strong up until the end of last year," when credit for new projects dried up, said Scott Brown, chief economist with Raymond James Financial in St. Petersburg.
"Now we're in the middle of financial panic, and you don't just unpanic. It takes time before confidence is restored."
Many of the states at the epicenter of the recession were epicenters of the housing boom. California's unemployment rate just reached 10.5 percent; Nevada is at 10.1 percent. That goes a long way in explaining why Florida's unemployment rate, now hovering near a 33-year high, far outpaces the national average of 8.1 percent.
It also explains why Cape Coral/Fort Myers (12 percent) is witnessing among the highest unemployment rates among Florida metro areas. In the past couple of years, Cape Coral has transformed from one of hottest housing markets in the country to the second-worst foreclosure rate behind Las Vegas, with one out of every 65 units in the foreclosure process last month.
Nearly three years into the housing slump, new home construction in Florida is still off by double digits year over year. Foreclosures are partly to blame. Why order a new home from a builder when a foreclosure is available more cheaply down the street?
"There's very little incentive for builders to put new products on the market," said Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness. "We think construction will continue to decline, probably through 2010, because there's so much product out there."
Rising layoffs are feeding the problem. Higher unemployment translates into less demand for offices, which puts even more contractors out of work.
While plenty of office building construction is on hold, the recession has also eaten into the renovations business. When tenants change offices, floor plans usually get a thorough makeover. That's not happening much lately, said Tom Kennedy, a real estate broker with Grubb & Ellis Commercial Florida.
"Businesses have been very quick to lay off people and conserve their resources," Kennedy said.
Real estate industry veterans have come to the aid of their laid-off colleagues, most prominently with Real Estate Lives, organized by Tampa real estate attorney Ron Weaver.
Weaver's group is working with 168 unemployed people so far. This week it alerted clients to openings for a civil engineer, a construction project manager and title company workers.
"We've gotten over 100 major job leads and have placed 24 people," Weaver said.
Though it's leading the pack, construction has plenty of company in the job loss category. Year over year, professional and business services lost about 100,000 jobs in Florida, while the category of trade, transportation and utilities contracted by 86,500 jobs.
The job count in the state's most resilient industry, health care, slipped slightly month-to-month but is still up 2 percent from a year ago.
Some economists have projected that the national unemployment rate will climb toward 10 percent this year, with hard-hit states like Florida and California continuing to outpace the rest of the country.
"There's no real definition of a depression, but some would say whenever you have double-digit unemployment for an extended period of time, it qualifies," said Brown of Raymond James Financial. "So we're getting closer to that in Florida."
Rebecca Rust, chief economist with the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, which oversees the unemployment program, dismissed talk of depression. She said the term should only be used for comparisons on a national level.
Nevertheless, Rust deemed the current recession the worst since 1974-75 and said Florida's economy is expected to worsen throughout the year.
In past recessions, unemployment has been a lagging indicator, continuing to rise even after the economy started rebounding. The latest state analysis used for budgeting purposes predicted Florida's unemployment would peak at 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
Florida's jump in February, which represents 874,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9.25 million, is up significantly from January's revised rate of 8.8 percent. A year ago, Florida's unemployment was 4.3 percent. Not included in the breakdown are discouraged jobless who are no longer actively seeking work.
The Tampa Bay area's unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent, with Hernando County suffering the most at 12.7 percent. The bay area has shed more than 51,000 jobs over the year, third-highest among Florida metro areas.
Times staff writer James Thorner contributed to this report. Jeff Harrington can be reached at jharrington@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8242.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Union out in force over job-loss fears
www.jobberz.com
NORWALK
By STEVE KOBAK
Hour Staff Writer
About 60 AT&T employees marched in front of CVS on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Willard Street to protest layoffs and cutbacks by the phone carrier service despite a reported spike in profits.
The protest -- which took place down the street from AT&T's Norwalk branch -- occurred as Communications Workers of America Local 1298 officials were negotiating a new contract. The current union contract expires April 4.
"All we want is to keep our jobs and our standard of living," said Mike Duffy, a steward for Local 1298 and a 10-year AT&T employee. "I want to be able to go home every night to my family and know I have job security."
The Norwalk protest was one of a handful of statewide demonstrations held by Local 1298 to get the word out about the layoffs and a possible strike that will occur if contract negotiations fail.
AT&T announced in December that 12,000 employees nationwide would be laid off and Local 1298 members are worried that their jobs are in danger.
"It's about our livelihood and how we make a living," said Bruce Stern, an installation and repair technician for AT&T. "Every three or four years we have to go through this."
Union members were also incensed that layoffs took place despite the almost $1 billion revenue increase reported by the company in 2008.
Marching in front of a giant inflatable rat, protesters wore red shirts with Local 1298 logos and slogans like: "If provoked, will strike." Gilbert Pabellon, a 10-year AT&T employee who held a sign reading: "AT&T + AIG= Corporate Greed."
"The bottom line is I want a future," said Pabellon. "I want to support my family and I want to retire from this company."
Information on the negotiations was not available, as union officials were still in meetings with executives at press time.
NORWALK
By STEVE KOBAK
Hour Staff Writer
About 60 AT&T employees marched in front of CVS on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and Willard Street to protest layoffs and cutbacks by the phone carrier service despite a reported spike in profits.
The protest -- which took place down the street from AT&T's Norwalk branch -- occurred as Communications Workers of America Local 1298 officials were negotiating a new contract. The current union contract expires April 4.
"All we want is to keep our jobs and our standard of living," said Mike Duffy, a steward for Local 1298 and a 10-year AT&T employee. "I want to be able to go home every night to my family and know I have job security."
The Norwalk protest was one of a handful of statewide demonstrations held by Local 1298 to get the word out about the layoffs and a possible strike that will occur if contract negotiations fail.
AT&T announced in December that 12,000 employees nationwide would be laid off and Local 1298 members are worried that their jobs are in danger.
"It's about our livelihood and how we make a living," said Bruce Stern, an installation and repair technician for AT&T. "Every three or four years we have to go through this."
Union members were also incensed that layoffs took place despite the almost $1 billion revenue increase reported by the company in 2008.
Marching in front of a giant inflatable rat, protesters wore red shirts with Local 1298 logos and slogans like: "If provoked, will strike." Gilbert Pabellon, a 10-year AT&T employee who held a sign reading: "AT&T + AIG= Corporate Greed."
"The bottom line is I want a future," said Pabellon. "I want to support my family and I want to retire from this company."
Information on the negotiations was not available, as union officials were still in meetings with executives at press time.
Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
www.jobberz.com
Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a half year of declines, consumer spending edged up for a second month in February even though incomes sagged under the weight of further job losses. The spending increases were seen as a hopeful sign that this key sector of the economy is staging a modest rebound that could help pull the country out of the recession.
Consumer spending rose by 0.2 percent last month after an even bigger 1 percent jump in January, which was the largest one-month gain in 3 1/2 years, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Those gains followed a record six straight monthly declines as consumers tightened their belts in the face of a deepening recession.
Americans' incomes slipped further in February, dropping by 0.2 percent, the fourth drop in the past five months, as wages and salaries continued to be battered by the massive layoffs that have occurred as the recession, already the longest in a quarter century, has deepened.
Consumer belt-tightening has caused the personal savings rate, which was hovering near zero a year ago, to jump sharply. It stood at 4.2 percent in February after being at 4.4 percent in January. That was the first time in more than a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for two straight months.
A separate report Friday showed that the Reuters-University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence rose to 57.3 in March, still near a three-decade low but higher than the February reading of 56.3.
Economists said the slight rise in consumer confidence and the back-to-back increases in consumer spending after string of declines provided some reason to hope that at the very least the steep slide in the economy could be coming to an end.
"The fact that consumers have stopped retrenching is the most hopeful sign for the economy in a long time," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.
Consumer spending is closely followed because it accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity. Spending fell at a rate of 3.8 percent in the July-September quarter and then by a 4.3 percent rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in 28 years.
While economists had feared that spending would fall further in the current quarter, the results from January and February have led many economists to believe that this key sector could actually show a slight positive of around 1 percent.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, fell at an annual rate of 6.3 percent, the government reported Thursday, the biggest GDP drop since 1982. Economists still believe that GDP will show a big decline in the January-March quarter, even if consumer spending turns positive just because of all the other negative forces weighing down growth at the moment from falling business spending to weak exports and continued declines in housing construction.
But analysts said the GDP decline could be a slightly less severe 5 percent in the first quarter, moderating to a 2.5 percent drop in the April-June quarter, a zero reading in the third quarter and a small positive of perhaps 1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Part of the reason analysts believe that any recovery will take awhile to begin are the ongoing problems in the financial sector which are keeping banks from resuming more normal lending to banks and businesses and the expected further wave of job layoffs in the months ahead as companies continue to slash payrolls.
And consumers, even if they stop slashing spending, are not expected to go on a buying spree anytime soon, given those job losses and the hit to their investment holdings.
"Consumers have lost massive amounts of wealth in their stock investments and their home prices. They are still feeling the pressure to boost savings," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
The rebound in consumer spending and the slight uptick in consumer confidence followed better-than-expected readings earlier in the week showing that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in February by 3.4 percent, the first increase after six monthly declines, while sales of both new and existing homes increased last month.
"I think we have seen the end of the biggest part of the downswing for the economy but it is going to take awhile for the economy to level off and then to start picking up," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.
He said the tax cuts which will soon start showing up in people's paychecks in the form of lower withholding amounts plus other parts of the $787 billion stimulus bill should start to bolster the economy. He predicted the recession will come to an end around September.
But Wyss and many other economists are looking for at-best a tepid recovery in the early stages, in part because of the severe problems facing the nation's financial sector and the need for many baby boomers, who are now approaching retirement, to rebuild their investments.
Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said that Americans remain "unnerved and frightened by the loss in value of their homes and their investments, particularly retirement savings. This is their penance after a decade of excess borrowing and spending."
The consumer spending report showed that a price gauge tied to spending rose by 0.3 percent in February and was up 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, indicating that the recession has contributed to a significant moderate in inflation pressures.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a half year of declines, consumer spending edged up for a second month in February even though incomes sagged under the weight of further job losses. The spending increases were seen as a hopeful sign that this key sector of the economy is staging a modest rebound that could help pull the country out of the recession.
Consumer spending rose by 0.2 percent last month after an even bigger 1 percent jump in January, which was the largest one-month gain in 3 1/2 years, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Those gains followed a record six straight monthly declines as consumers tightened their belts in the face of a deepening recession.
Americans' incomes slipped further in February, dropping by 0.2 percent, the fourth drop in the past five months, as wages and salaries continued to be battered by the massive layoffs that have occurred as the recession, already the longest in a quarter century, has deepened.
Consumer belt-tightening has caused the personal savings rate, which was hovering near zero a year ago, to jump sharply. It stood at 4.2 percent in February after being at 4.4 percent in January. That was the first time in more than a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for two straight months.
A separate report Friday showed that the Reuters-University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence rose to 57.3 in March, still near a three-decade low but higher than the February reading of 56.3.
Economists said the slight rise in consumer confidence and the back-to-back increases in consumer spending after string of declines provided some reason to hope that at the very least the steep slide in the economy could be coming to an end.
"The fact that consumers have stopped retrenching is the most hopeful sign for the economy in a long time," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.
Consumer spending is closely followed because it accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity. Spending fell at a rate of 3.8 percent in the July-September quarter and then by a 4.3 percent rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in 28 years.
While economists had feared that spending would fall further in the current quarter, the results from January and February have led many economists to believe that this key sector could actually show a slight positive of around 1 percent.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, fell at an annual rate of 6.3 percent, the government reported Thursday, the biggest GDP drop since 1982. Economists still believe that GDP will show a big decline in the January-March quarter, even if consumer spending turns positive just because of all the other negative forces weighing down growth at the moment from falling business spending to weak exports and continued declines in housing construction.
But analysts said the GDP decline could be a slightly less severe 5 percent in the first quarter, moderating to a 2.5 percent drop in the April-June quarter, a zero reading in the third quarter and a small positive of perhaps 1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Part of the reason analysts believe that any recovery will take awhile to begin are the ongoing problems in the financial sector which are keeping banks from resuming more normal lending to banks and businesses and the expected further wave of job layoffs in the months ahead as companies continue to slash payrolls.
And consumers, even if they stop slashing spending, are not expected to go on a buying spree anytime soon, given those job losses and the hit to their investment holdings.
"Consumers have lost massive amounts of wealth in their stock investments and their home prices. They are still feeling the pressure to boost savings," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
The rebound in consumer spending and the slight uptick in consumer confidence followed better-than-expected readings earlier in the week showing that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in February by 3.4 percent, the first increase after six monthly declines, while sales of both new and existing homes increased last month.
"I think we have seen the end of the biggest part of the downswing for the economy but it is going to take awhile for the economy to level off and then to start picking up," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.
He said the tax cuts which will soon start showing up in people's paychecks in the form of lower withholding amounts plus other parts of the $787 billion stimulus bill should start to bolster the economy. He predicted the recession will come to an end around September.
But Wyss and many other economists are looking for at-best a tepid recovery in the early stages, in part because of the severe problems facing the nation's financial sector and the need for many baby boomers, who are now approaching retirement, to rebuild their investments.
Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said that Americans remain "unnerved and frightened by the loss in value of their homes and their investments, particularly retirement savings. This is their penance after a decade of excess borrowing and spending."
The consumer spending report showed that a price gauge tied to spending rose by 0.3 percent in February and was up 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, indicating that the recession has contributed to a significant moderate in inflation pressures.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
www.jobberz.com
Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a half year of declines, consumer spending edged up for a second month in February even though incomes sagged under the weight of further job losses. The spending increases were seen as a hopeful sign that this key sector of the economy is staging a modest rebound that could help pull the country out of the recession.
Consumer spending rose by 0.2 percent last month after an even bigger 1 percent jump in January, which was the largest one-month gain in 3 1/2 years, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Those gains followed a record six straight monthly declines as consumers tightened their belts in the face of a deepening recession.
Americans' incomes slipped further in February, dropping by 0.2 percent, the fourth drop in the past five months, as wages and salaries continued to be battered by the massive layoffs that have occurred as the recession, already the longest in a quarter century, has deepened.
Consumer belt-tightening has caused the personal savings rate, which was hovering near zero a year ago, to jump sharply. It stood at 4.2 percent in February after being at 4.4 percent in January. That was the first time in more than a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for two straight months.
A separate report Friday showed that the Reuters-University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence rose to 57.3 in March, still near a three-decade low but higher than the February reading of 56.3.
Economists said the slight rise in consumer confidence and the back-to-back increases in consumer spending after string of declines provided some reason to hope that at the very least the steep slide in the economy could be coming to an end.
"The fact that consumers have stopped retrenching is the most hopeful sign for the economy in a long time," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.
Consumer spending is closely followed because it accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity. Spending fell at a rate of 3.8 percent in the July-September quarter and then by a 4.3 percent rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in 28 years.
While economists had feared that spending would fall further in the current quarter, the results from January and February have led many economists to believe that this key sector could actually show a slight positive of around 1 percent.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, fell at an annual rate of 6.3 percent, the government reported Thursday, the biggest GDP drop since 1982. Economists still believe that GDP will show a big decline in the January-March quarter, even if consumer spending turns positive just because of all the other negative forces weighing down growth at the moment from falling business spending to weak exports and continued declines in housing construction.
But analysts said the GDP decline could be a slightly less severe 5 percent in the first quarter, moderating to a 2.5 percent drop in the April-June quarter, a zero reading in the third quarter and a small positive of perhaps 1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Part of the reason analysts believe that any recovery will take awhile to begin are the ongoing problems in the financial sector which are keeping banks from resuming more normal lending to banks and businesses and the expected further wave of job layoffs in the months ahead as companies continue to slash payrolls.
And consumers, even if they stop slashing spending, are not expected to go on a buying spree anytime soon, given those job losses and the hit to their investment holdings.
"Consumers have lost massive amounts of wealth in their stock investments and their home prices. They are still feeling the pressure to boost savings," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
The rebound in consumer spending and the slight uptick in consumer confidence followed better-than-expected readings earlier in the week showing that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in February by 3.4 percent, the first increase after six monthly declines, while sales of both new and existing homes increased last month.
"I think we have seen the end of the biggest part of the downswing for the economy but it is going to take awhile for the economy to level off and then to start picking up," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.
He said the tax cuts which will soon start showing up in people's paychecks in the form of lower withholding amounts plus other parts of the $787 billion stimulus bill should start to bolster the economy. He predicted the recession will come to an end around September.
But Wyss and many other economists are looking for at-best a tepid recovery in the early stages, in part because of the severe problems facing the nation's financial sector and the need for many baby boomers, who are now approaching retirement, to rebuild their investments.
Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said that Americans remain "unnerved and frightened by the loss in value of their homes and their investments, particularly retirement savings. This is their penance after a decade of excess borrowing and spending."
The consumer spending report showed that a price gauge tied to spending rose by 0.3 percent in February and was up 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, indicating that the recession has contributed to a significant moderate in inflation pressures.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Consumer spending up, but income sags on job cuts
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a half year of declines, consumer spending edged up for a second month in February even though incomes sagged under the weight of further job losses. The spending increases were seen as a hopeful sign that this key sector of the economy is staging a modest rebound that could help pull the country out of the recession.
Consumer spending rose by 0.2 percent last month after an even bigger 1 percent jump in January, which was the largest one-month gain in 3 1/2 years, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Those gains followed a record six straight monthly declines as consumers tightened their belts in the face of a deepening recession.
Americans' incomes slipped further in February, dropping by 0.2 percent, the fourth drop in the past five months, as wages and salaries continued to be battered by the massive layoffs that have occurred as the recession, already the longest in a quarter century, has deepened.
Consumer belt-tightening has caused the personal savings rate, which was hovering near zero a year ago, to jump sharply. It stood at 4.2 percent in February after being at 4.4 percent in January. That was the first time in more than a decade that the savings rate has been above 4 percent for two straight months.
A separate report Friday showed that the Reuters-University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence rose to 57.3 in March, still near a three-decade low but higher than the February reading of 56.3.
Economists said the slight rise in consumer confidence and the back-to-back increases in consumer spending after string of declines provided some reason to hope that at the very least the steep slide in the economy could be coming to an end.
"The fact that consumers have stopped retrenching is the most hopeful sign for the economy in a long time," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.
Consumer spending is closely followed because it accounts for about 70 percent of total economic activity. Spending fell at a rate of 3.8 percent in the July-September quarter and then by a 4.3 percent rate in the fourth quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in 28 years.
While economists had feared that spending would fall further in the current quarter, the results from January and February have led many economists to believe that this key sector could actually show a slight positive of around 1 percent.
The overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, fell at an annual rate of 6.3 percent, the government reported Thursday, the biggest GDP drop since 1982. Economists still believe that GDP will show a big decline in the January-March quarter, even if consumer spending turns positive just because of all the other negative forces weighing down growth at the moment from falling business spending to weak exports and continued declines in housing construction.
But analysts said the GDP decline could be a slightly less severe 5 percent in the first quarter, moderating to a 2.5 percent drop in the April-June quarter, a zero reading in the third quarter and a small positive of perhaps 1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Part of the reason analysts believe that any recovery will take awhile to begin are the ongoing problems in the financial sector which are keeping banks from resuming more normal lending to banks and businesses and the expected further wave of job layoffs in the months ahead as companies continue to slash payrolls.
And consumers, even if they stop slashing spending, are not expected to go on a buying spree anytime soon, given those job losses and the hit to their investment holdings.
"Consumers have lost massive amounts of wealth in their stock investments and their home prices. They are still feeling the pressure to boost savings," said Nigel Gault, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
The rebound in consumer spending and the slight uptick in consumer confidence followed better-than-expected readings earlier in the week showing that orders for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in February by 3.4 percent, the first increase after six monthly declines, while sales of both new and existing homes increased last month.
"I think we have seen the end of the biggest part of the downswing for the economy but it is going to take awhile for the economy to level off and then to start picking up," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.
He said the tax cuts which will soon start showing up in people's paychecks in the form of lower withholding amounts plus other parts of the $787 billion stimulus bill should start to bolster the economy. He predicted the recession will come to an end around September.
But Wyss and many other economists are looking for at-best a tepid recovery in the early stages, in part because of the severe problems facing the nation's financial sector and the need for many baby boomers, who are now approaching retirement, to rebuild their investments.
Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, said that Americans remain "unnerved and frightened by the loss in value of their homes and their investments, particularly retirement savings. This is their penance after a decade of excess borrowing and spending."
The consumer spending report showed that a price gauge tied to spending rose by 0.3 percent in February and was up 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, indicating that the recession has contributed to a significant moderate in inflation pressures.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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