Economists: Drop In Unemployment Due To Workers Giving Up Job Search

July 19, 2012

State economists on Tuesday cast a cloud over Florida’s sunny economy recovery picture as they released data showing that nearly 70 percent of the drop in the state’s unemployment rate since December has been due to discouraged workers.

The Legislative Office of Economic and Demographic Research estimated that Florida’s unemployment rate of 8.6 percent would be 9.5 percent if workers who have stopped looking for jobs were added to the picture.

The rate would still be lower than the 9.9 percent posted in December.

The figures provide some analytical backup to anecdotal information that much of the state and national recovery is due to a smaller labor force and not to job growth.

Florida releases its June unemployment rate on Friday.

By The News Service Florida

Comments

13 Responses to “Economists: Drop In Unemployment Due To Workers Giving Up Job Search”

  1. 429SCJ on July 20th, 2012 7:33 pm

    We seem to be setting records for bad times this decade. The drought and crop failures, massive unemployment, rising crime and crippling debt. If that is not a recipe for tribulation then I don’t know what is.

    Society can be stressed to the point by disruptive trends, that it starts to unravel at an almost exponential rate. Look how crime is increasing everyday it seems. The times are only going to get worse as debt, inflation and unemplyment, not to mention crop failures and rising food and fuel prices. The wolf is at the door for many, soon for us all.
    Pray to the Lord and prepare for the bad times, that are surely comming our way.

  2. David Huie Green on July 20th, 2012 2:32 pm

    REGARDING:
    “@ David: who, may I ask, is deciding that these people are not still looking for work?
    When you are drawing unemployment benefits they ask you if you are looking for work or not. Once you’re no longer drawing benefits they have no way to track your job search. Is this more GOP “don’t ask/don’t tell”?”

    I’ll assume it is a legitimate question and that you think the tracking is done through the employment office rather than the Bureau of Labor Statistics which polls people in assorted house holds each month. They’ve been asking and telling since Roosevelt was in office.

    They ask thousands of households questions like, are you employed? If the answer is no, the question is, are you seeking employment? They don’t have to go to the unemployment office to be polled. In fact, those aren’t singled out by the survey.

    By the way, “don’t ask/don’t tell” was a policy of Democratic President William Jefferson Clinton.

    David for truth
    for a difference

  3. Bob hudson on July 20th, 2012 9:38 am

    Well, Jane I lived in rat hole apartments, (cheap) had a budget , (stuck to it) and sent the pay check home. But they where mostly shut downs (7 days a week , 12 to 16 hour a day.) Hard work, very good money. It can be done. But you need a skill or a trade.Yes, I started as a helper and a dig digger, and that got very old, so I learn a craft. And it paid very well. And there currently is a shortage of skill craftsman.

  4. Abe on July 20th, 2012 8:01 am

    @ David: who, may I ask, is deciding that these people are not still looking for work?
    When you are drawing unemployment benefits they ask you if you are looking for work or not. Once you’re no longer drawing benefits they have no way to track your job search. Is this more GOP “don’t ask/don’t tell”?

    Abe for simple logic and reasoning skills
    Abe for thinking for ourselves
    Abe for the real truth
    Abe just pawn in game of life

  5. Jane on July 20th, 2012 6:14 am

    No surprise here…Escambia County has never had any industry or made any effort to attract businesses. They even make it harder for small businesses to start, compared to other states, like Alabama and Georiga. Some people just took early retirement…less money but better than no money. There are people who need better job skills and better education. Make sure your kids get that education so they have a better life! yes, there are jobs in other states, but if you move what do you do with your house if you can’t sell it in this economy? You can’t pay for 2 homes, even if one is rented.

  6. Tuf on July 19th, 2012 8:13 pm

    Just exited from monster.com, an online employment search engine.

    Within a 50 mile radius of Pensacola (hmmm, half of that radial distance is over water), there were 799 positions currently open. Great variety, primarily in finance, sales, medical, data systems, and hospitality. Mostly white collar work, with some moderate to high skilled blue collar work in mechanical maintenance amd computer system repair and installation listed.

    I wonder how many unemployed people giving up on finding employment are dropping back because of the requirement to acquire higher skills training and educational requirements needed in the current job market (often called retraining)?

    Those widget and sawing jobs are overseas. Welcome to a new era in America. No new elected official is going to reverse this. When people improve their skills with stronger writing, reading, math, and problem solving skills, in addition to doing factual research (instead of believing every talking head’s “expert” commentary), each individual’s career outlook will vastly improve locally and nationally.

    Decision: Investment of time and money in the x-box and satellite dish, or in one’s own and their children’s educational opportunities… your choice.

  7. gm on July 19th, 2012 5:52 pm

    rick scott did not cut the number of weeks that you can draw unemployment the feds control that and the amount companies pay in 20 years will not cover what you recieve in 96 weeks its not ment to last that long. There are jobs to be had it might not be what you want but you can find a job.North Dakota companies are begging for people good paying jobs too.Youve got to get off the coach and look.

  8. mike on July 19th, 2012 3:33 pm

    I have been out of work for almost a year now I have sent out almost 1500 resumes .I’ve had 4 interviews in that time .most companies won’t even respond .the maximum unemployment benefit in florida is next to nothing .the governor just fixes the numbers .

  9. Bob hudson on July 19th, 2012 2:25 pm

    Well if i could not find work where I lived at , I would travel to where the work is, say like Alabama? I did that all my working life, yep mom worked, kept the the kids, and I went out , made money and sent it home. real simple, Hard life, but hey we made money, I expect every one else to do the same.In fact you can buy a magazine called the HOT SHEET, it list ever construction job in the U.S. A. and a lot of jobs oversea’s. Funny thing is I talk to guys now , who are still doing the same thing , and guess what? There is a SHORTAGE of skilled craftsmen in this country. Any body want to go to work? Learn a trade!

  10. Hobby on July 19th, 2012 1:41 pm

    Every body plays the numbers in there favor. So when Obama was elected the first year if all thoes people that quit there reduced hours part time job was counted the unemployement really was 21% in Florida. That’s how big business reduces employees. Make them mad reduce hours means loose benifits (healthcare). A win win for businesses. Oooooo that would be republican and Bushe 2 fault. The cause of today’s problems.

  11. David Huie Green on July 19th, 2012 12:17 pm

    REGARDING:
    “Reduce the amount of time someone can collect unemployment and when they run out of available benefits remove their numbers from the unemployment figures…problem solved.”

    Nope. As the article says, unemployment numbers will not go down due to termination of unemployment benefits but because some decide to no longer seek employment. Unemployment is not tied at all to unemployment benefits.

    David for literacy

  12. 429SCJ on July 19th, 2012 11:10 am

    “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it.
    He who doesn’t… pays it” Albert Einstein.

    No need to worry about the economy, just buy yourself a farm in New Zeland or Switzerland, renounce your US citizenship, leave and live happily ever after.

  13. Abe on July 19th, 2012 7:25 am

    So that was Rick Scotts plan to reduce unemployment. Reduce the amount of time someone can collect unemployment and when they run out of available benefits remove their numbers from the unemployment figures…problem solved.

    Let’s do away with unemployment compensation altogether so we can have zero unemployment. Genius!
    Better yet, let’s get bogged down in another war, in say Syria or Iran, so we can employ more people.

    Cutting the time someone can collect benefits during a recession, after the employers paid the full premiums all the prior years is like an insurance company cutting your benefits after you get sick.