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Florida jobless rate hits new low

The labor market is tightening to the point that employers are having trouble filling jobs and workers are getting a bit pickier.

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published September 17, 2005

With construction booming and the economy firing on all cylinders, Florida's August unemployment rate was the lowest ever recorded - and state records go back to 1976.

The seasonally adjusted rate of 3.6 percent is a full percentage point lower than the rate one year ago. It also is well below the national rate of 4.9 percent.

"It's getting extremely hard to find people to fill jobs and employee retention is really becoming an issue," said Brent Short, a manager in west central Florida for the staffing company Spherion Corp. He said the company is having difficulty filling positions in technology, accounting and finance, customer service and call center support.

Short said the high cost of gas is a significant obstacle to recruiting.

"When unemployment was high, it was nothing to get somebody from New Port Richey to drive all the way to Brandon," he said. "Now people say, "What's the sense of taking a $3,000 increase if it's going to cost you $2,000 in gas and an extra 20 minutes on the road?' "

The latest Spherion employment survey found a third of Florida workers plan to look for a new job in the next year.

The August report reflects conditions before Hurricane Katrina swept through the northern Gulf Coast. It is likely that evacuees from hard-hit states will add to the September totals.

So far, 931 people from Mississippi and 3,410 from Louisiana have filed in Florida for unemployment benefits. Florida processes the claims, but those states will pay them.

Finding a job shouldn't be difficult for evacuees who decide to stay. Florida has created 252,600 jobs over the past year and the Florida Panhandle, the area closest to the damaged regions, has some of the tightest employment markets in the state.

Some Florida companies have been recruiting Katrina evacuees. A Clearwater law firm, Gassman, Bates & Associates, hired a Tulane University law student as a clerk and advertised in Baton Rouge for legal assistants. Alan Gassman said he hoped he would have better luck than he has recruiting locally, but the advertising didn't produce the results he had in mind.

"It's very difficult to find good people," he said. "We're always interviewing and testing."

In the Tampa Bay area, the August unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, though the reported figure was not seasonally adjusted.

Florida job growth has been strong in construction, real estate, health care and business services. Florida bars and restaurants employ 27,000 more people than they did a year ago.

Helen Huntley can be reached at huntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.

[Last modified September 17, 2005, 02:15:31]