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Economic Yearbook 2005 - Introduction
Where The Jobs Are
This year's Economic Yearbook issue focuses on the kinds of jobs each region is generating -- both from new and existing businesses.
Education and health services grew by 26,200 jobs last year.
Government added 23,400 positions, 19,000 of those on the local level.
Leisure and hospitality tacked on 21,000 jobs.
Construction added 14,700 employees.
Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater led the state in year-over-year gains, picking up 26,200 jobs, mostly in professional and business services (16,200).
Orlando added 22,200 jobs, with 6,400 in leisure and hospitality.
The state is 20% more reliant on leisure and hospitality services jobs than the nation.
Wages and salaries at the end of 2004 in Florida were up 6.1% from a year earlier.
Single-family housing permits statewide were up 19% compared with the fourth quarter of 2003.
Unemployment was highest last year in Hendry County, 8.7%, Glades, 8.6, and De Soto, 8.1%, three counties that rely heavily on agricultural employment.
Unemployment was lowest in Lafayette, 1.5%, Liberty, 1.8%, and Alachua, 2%.
Job growth from 2001 to 2005 has been the strongest in the southwest corner of the state, led by Manatee County, with a growth rate over that period of 14.8%, and Charlotte County, 13.6%.
Sources: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, FDIC
Statewide, employers created 172,300 jobs last year, making Florida the fastest-growing job market in the country -- again. But exactly what did those 172,000-plus jobs look like? Central Florida shows signs of developing a critical mass of high-tech, high-wage employment. But elsewhere in the state, bread-and-butter job growth is still coming mostly from lower-paying service jobs.
Professional and business services account for more than a third (63,100) of the 172,300 new jobs statewide last year -- the state is 41% more reliant on these jobs than the nation as a whole. And on average, Florida jobs in this industry pay $34,500 a year.
More than two-thirds -- 67% -- of those business and professional service jobs were concentrated in employment services, which includes temporary holiday workers and hurricane cleanup employment. That means that a quarter of the overall job growth in the state occurred in categories where average annual salaries range from $16,700 to $30,100 -- not exactly the stuff of economic developers' dreams.
The construction industry added just 14,700 jobs, but as you'll discover on the following pages, the housing and condo boom is continuing to feed economic growth throughout the state, from Palm Beach County, which recorded almost 9,000 housing starts last year, to Walton County, where appreciation has driven the median home price to almost $275,000.
As in previous Economic Yearbooks, this year's issue highlights new employers who have moved into a region. But the bulk of job growth throughout the national and state economies comes from existing firms, and Florida Trend this year also took care to highlight expansions by existing businesses to more accurately portray the nature of job growth -- and the value of existing businesses to their regional economies and the state.
VITAL STATISTICS
POPULATIONTop 5 CountiesMiami-Dade2,414,070Broward1,801,969Palm Beach1,283,853Hillsborough1,114,778Orange1,015,493Bottom 5Liberty7,072Lafayette7,333Franklin10,384Glades11,488Calhoun12,805
POPULATION
GROWTH RATE
2001-2005Top 5 CountiesOsceola15.05%Santa Rosa14.92%Clay13.96%St. Johns13.71%Collier13.03%Bottom 5Madison0.46%Liberty0.47%Calhoun0.47%Gadsden1.63%Jackson1.95%
JOB
GROWTH RATE
2001-2005Top 5 CountiesManatee14.83%Seminole14.40%Charlotte13.62%Collier13.30%De Soto13.06%Bottom 5Madison3.32%Jackson3.32%Putnam3.37%Jefferson3.89%Gulf4.03%
MEDIAN AGETop 5 CountiesCharlotte54.21Citrus52.53Sarasota50.72Flagler49.95Highlands48.73Bottom 5Hendry29.87Alachua30.81Leon31.11Hardee32.66Orange34.14
PER CAPITA
INCOMETop 5 CountiesPalm Beach$48,081Martin$47,493Collier$46,868St. Johns$46,436Sarasota$46,311Bottom 5Union$14,431Hamilton$15,534Sumter$16,626Lafayette$17,142Dixie$17,785
% INCOME
FROM LABORTop 5 CountiesOrange77.9%Seminole77.6%Wakulla77.4%Leon76.3%Duval75.4%Bottom 5Indian River37.8%Charlotte38.5%Martin38.9%Citrus39.0%Highlands41.4%
% INCOME
FROM PROPERTYTop 5 CountiesMartin50.3%Indian River49.1%Collier46.4%Sarasota42.7%Palm Beach40.0%Bottom 5Liberty10.7%Wakulla11.5%Baker12.5%Bradford12.9%Gadsden13.1%
% INCOME FROM TRANSFER PAYMENTSTop 5 CountiesHolmes30.8%Dixie30.3%Gulf28.7%Washington28.6%Sumter28.4%Bottom 5Orange6.0%Seminole6.4%Leon6.9%Monroe7.0%Collier7.2%
Sources: Woods & Poole Economics Inc., Washington, D.C. Copyright 2004. Woods & Poole does not guarantee the accuracy of this data. The use of this data and the conclusions drawn from it are solely the responsibility of Florida Trend. Population data include military stationed in Florida, college residents and inmates. Jobs data measure full- and part-time jobs and proprietors and include farmworkers. Property income includes rent, dividend and interest payments. Transfer income includes Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance. Unemployment data are from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
