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Construction industry leads to rise in unemployment
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The downturn in construction and its aftershocks in related lines of work contributed to a boost in September unemployment, which in Lee County was 5.2 percent — up .3 percent from August — and in Collier County was 5.3 percent — up .1 percent from August.
Year-over-year numbers spell out an unsettling trend of rising unemployment in Lee and Collier, showing an increase of 2.1 percent in Lee since September 2006’s 3.1 percent and a boost of 1.5 percent in Collier since September 2006’s 3.8 percent.
As for the building industry, numbers showed that 600 jobs were lost in Lee County between September 2006 and September 2007 in the category that includes construction. That translates to a 1.6 percent decrease.
In Collier, 500 jobs were lost in that category during the same period, which equates to a 2 percent dip in the number of construction workers.
Across the state, 22,300 construction jobs were lost during the year, marking the first time since 1992 that the state has experienced seven consecutive months of year-to-year declines in construction jobs.
“The construction industry is driving the layoffs and it’s affecting not only the housing sector but it’s affecting other related industries,” said Barbara Hartman, communications representative with the Career and Service Centers of Southwest Florida in Fort Myers. “As the months go by we are continuing to see it.”
Harold Sasloe is seeing it as well. He has been doing remodeling work in Southwest Florida since 1979, and believes area layoffs are part of the reason his business is down about 60 percent from where it was a year ago.
“You drive up and down the road and you see ‘Handyman’ signs all over the place on vehicles. Those are pretty much all people who have been laid off, and they’re diminishing my workload,” he said.
The loss of work has been an adjustment.
“It used to be that I didn’t have time to breathe,” he said. “But lately there have been times when I’ve had to take time off because there wasn’t anything for me to do.”
He’s encouraged by a recent flurry of calls that have resulted in bookings through the end of November.
“I keep hoping things will straighten out more after the first of the year,” he said.
By the numbers, the statistics, which are compiled by the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, showed that out of a labor force of 295,730 people in Lee County, 15,344 were out of work in September.
In Collier, there were 8,373 people out of work in September, where the size of the labor pool was 157,684.
Lee and Collier were ahead of the statewide 4.0 percent unemployment rate, which was unchanged from August, and the national rate, which was 4.7 percent.
Collier’s September rate was the 12th highest in the state. Lee ranked 14th highest in the state.
Hartman said she doesn’t think things are going to improve significantly anytime soon. Her office received notice recently that Teleperformance, a Fort Myers call center, has filed a mass layoff notice with the state announcing that it is closing in December, putting 76 people out of work.
The company had 400 workers when it opened its Fort Myers office in 2001. Teleperformance laid off 110 people in April, Hartman said.
Curt Bradbury, director of the Career and Service Centers of Southwest Florida, said he’s noticed an increase in the number of job-seekers visiting his agency since the second quarter of this year. The good news is that seasonal hiring for companies like United Parcel Service and Fed-Ex is cranking up, and some new stores are hiring as they get off the ground, he said.
However, opportunities that pay as well as construction aren’t common.
“Unfortunately we’re seeing a few sporadic things for middle management but nothing significant,” he said.
Bradbury advised anyone who’s looking for work to visit the Career and Service Center and search the state’s employment site, www.employflorida.com.
As for Friday’s report, other highlights include the fact that new jobs have been created in both counties since September 2006. There were 5,100 new jobs in Lee over that time period and 2,400 in Collier. Statewide, 105,700 new jobs were created.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area led the state in employment gains, picking up 31,700 jobs over the year. The Orlando-Kissimmee area added 22,700 jobs, and the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area grew by 13,400 jobs. Together, these gains represented 65 percent of the state’s job growth.
At 2.4 percent, Walton County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate, and at 9.9 percent Hendry County had the highest.
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Now I am really confused. As the number of deportations rises, our unemployment figures should lower, right? But if more jobs are becoming available due to the deportations and other enforcement efforts, why then is unemployment rising?
#1 Posted by sassy2 on October 19, 2007 at 12:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Bush screwing up the US's economy along with the rest of the world.
and
Creating more terrorists at the same time.
Way to go, Dubya!
The sooner you crawl under a rock in Crawford Taxas the better!
#2 Posted by bicoastal on October 19, 2007 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is the worst I've ever seen it in Southwest Florida.
Thanks Bush, at least the BIG BUSINESS oil companies are making a killing! Crude oil is now at $90 a barrel! Expect fuel prices at the pumps to increase again very soon.
Safe America Vote Democrat!
#3 Posted by Ironside on October 19, 2007 at 1:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
*Save America, Vote Democrat!
#4 Posted by Ironside on October 19, 2007 at 1:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I wish all telemarketers would go broke. I'm so tired of being interrupted by some flowery moron asking to :"Speak to the owner of the business"
#5 Posted by Naplestango on October 19, 2007 at 10:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why do liberals always find a reason to blame Bush on everything? This has nothing to do with him.
#6 Posted by Sanity on October 19, 2007 at 10:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is the worst I have seen here in over 30 years. Never have seen so many people out of work in this area. Usually this area is very resilient to a slow down in the economy. Not this time. Unemployment is as high here as it is in most northern states.
This will be very interesting to see how this all shakes out.
#7 Posted by swfl_ff on October 19, 2007 at 10:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
After years of shoddy workmanship and gorging purchasers it looks like the construction industry is finally getting its just dues.
#8 Posted by chap914 on October 19, 2007 at 11:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The economy hasn't got anything to do with Bush, but when interest rates reached 21% it was all Carter's fault. It's funny how the neocon's mind works!
#9 Posted by Ironside on October 20, 2007 at 12:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah, its Abraham Lincoln's fault...
#10 Posted by techie on October 20, 2007 at 5:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sanity, liberals blame Bush for everything because they are stupid. If they weren't stupid they wouldn't be liberals. Liberalism is a mental illness.
#11 Posted by stevepk on October 20, 2007 at 5:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If democrats have a plan...why do they keep it a secret?? We need it right now!! I'll be interested in learning how raising taxes and opening up the boarders to more cheep labor to crush already depressed wages is going to solve a credit crunch created by greedy mortgage brokers. And by the way aren't most of the law makers in Tallahassee Democrat?
#12 Posted by almostdone on October 20, 2007 at 6:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Blaming Bush! What a joke, How much income tax did you pay last year??? Are you part of the 50% that pay 3% of the tax base? Probably, didn't get enough hand-outs last year???
#13 Posted by furball on October 20, 2007 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We now have a national debt of over 9 trillion dollars. http://www.federalbudget.com/
Bush is a 'major league' SPENDER!
Bush has, so far, spent upwards of half a trillion dollars on the Iraqis, and the neocons scream foul when it comes to spending money on our children's health care. It would cost, to finance SCHIP for one year, less what we're spending in Iraq in one month.
Why do the neocons care more about the Iraqis than the American children?
#14 Posted by Ironside on October 20, 2007 at 8:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The American child. These Democraps want us to pay for all the kids born out of wedlock, or to people who have been living on welfare for genarations. If you don't have a job, if you're on welfare, stop having kids. My tax dollar pays for your free birth control pills. Ironside is just another blind idiot who turns his Hillary loving head from the facts. If Hillary is the next Prez, all of us will pay dearly. Watch you taxes go sky high Ironhead.
#15 Posted by cit10driver on October 20, 2007 at 10:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
cit10driver, Wake and quit drinking the Kool-Aid, the Republicans were totally in charge of Congress for 10 years, the senate for 6 years and the presidncy for the last 6+ years and welfare is still functioning fine, in fact the red states are the largest recipients of Federal money in the US.
#16 Posted by smarty on October 20, 2007 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a bunch of fruitcakes. I guess any NDN story is an opening for the "forum of idiots" to open up on their personal views on politics, religion, bigotry, whatever.
There are 3 driving engines to the economy in Collier County and one of them is suffering tremendously. Understanding those facts and how we will all ultimately suffer should be the discussion here, figure it out and stay on topic.
#17 Posted by fathead on October 20, 2007 at 10:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's remember, these are the neocons who voted 63% in favor of Katherine Harris over Bill Nelson. Now that is laughable! ROFLMFAO!
#18 Posted by Ironside on October 20, 2007 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ok, who out there has a degree in economics????
The red states get the most federal dollars probably because they have the most illegals which completely clog the jails, hospitals and wasted education dollars spent on tomatoe pickers!!!
#19 Posted by furball on October 20, 2007 at 11:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This artical was about job losses in the construction industry in SWFL...
The numbers would look even worse if they added the "undocumented labor" that has been displaced.
#20 Posted by workattack on October 20, 2007 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"undocumented" workers made up at least 20% of construction jobs and it sometimes looked like 90%.
What exactly are "undocumented" workers anyway? Workers who forgot to get their identification documents? I think not. They are ILLEGAL ALIENS!
#21 Posted by almostdone on October 20, 2007 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
NDN has agreed to change your screen name to "done"...
WTF??? Obviously "undocumented" means they are illegal aliens...
#22 Posted by workattack on October 20, 2007 at 2:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Obviously it means they are illegal aliens, that why you refer to them as "undocumented immigrants" WTF to you???
#23 Posted by almostdone on October 20, 2007 at 6:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Read, Think, Breathe, Type...
I said undocumented workers, which accurately reflects that the Government does not know they are in the country therefore does not collect taxes, Social Security, Worker's Comp, etc.
You created the term "undocumented immigrants"
#24 Posted by workattack on October 21, 2007 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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