Where are the jobs in Florida? And why so expensive to live in this Beautiful State of Mine?
Two good questions asked yesterday by a Frogger hot on the pursuit of the answer to my incessant question--What in the heck happened to Paradise?
My fingers point to a Republican-majority state legislature, held since the days of Walkin' Lawton Chiles. But let's get beyond my basic distaste for those who have strangled the life out of this land I love and take a look at what FSU's LeRoy Collins Institute has to offer via Tough Choices:Update 2009.
Where are the jobs?
Construction has gone bust.
Construction jobs in Florida have dropped off sharply since a 2006 high.... As we noted in Tough Choices:Update 2008, Florida income per resident actually increasedfrom 2004-2006 and was largely attributed to construction following the real estate/hurricane rebuilding boom, which provided relatively well paying jobs for many Floridians. Butthis boom has come to an abrupt halt. As the housing bust of 2008 hit Florida and continues to trickle down, many families have found themselves out of a job and out of a home. Florida had the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate with one in twenty-two housing units in the state receiving at least one foreclosure notice. Few expect to see much relief for the state and its homeowners in 2009.
Broke people don't do Disneyworld.
Florida has traditionally relied on tourism as a large source of funding. Without the inflow of money from other sources (such as a state income tax), Florida is reliant on tourism to meet many of its budgetary needs. But tourism is unlikely to sustain Florida through hard economic times. ...growth in tourists slowed significantly in 2005. Florida benefits from taxing tourists on purchases, entertainment, meals, and gasoline. Localities benefit from hotel taxes. Both have been adversely affected by the national economic woes. For example, in November 2008, Orange County (Orlando) saw its hotel-tax collections fall by more than 13% over November 2007—the sixth straight month that tax collections had fallen in that tourist mecca.
Where is the money?
Can't tax what's not there.
Florida has experienced a recurring general revenue reduction of 17.1% over the last three years and will experience a continuing decline until at least 2010. The coming year’s (2009-2010) budget shortfall is more than $5 billion despite a $6 billion reduction in the state budget over the past three years... Cuts have come in critical areas such as health care and education.
(...)
A myriad of factors plays a role in the drop in revenues. Since Florida relies so heavily on the sales tax, when citizens curtail their buying and when the number of tourists falls, ourrevenues respond in kind. Of course the recent housing woes have also adversely affected our tax yield and the number of jobs in the state.
Growth has always saved Florida's rear; however, "...in July of 2008 the United States
Census Bureau reported that 9,300 more citizens left Florida than moved in during the previous 12 months...."
I can vouch for that. As many Florida boomers see the big "R" rise over the retirement hill, most of us are looking to pull up stakes and head elsewhere.
Preferably somewhere where the living is easier and life can be lived among the free. (And I'm taking my retirement with me).
