(This news is for those basking in the joy of the president’s ‘Stimulus Plan.’)
By The Jacksonville Business Journal
Consumer confidence, which had lifted in January, took a steep dive in February, The Conference Board said Tuesday, Feb. 23.
Its Consumer Confidence Index now is 46, down from 56.5 in January. It had been improving during the past few months.
The Conference Board, a New York-based nonprofit, has TNS conduct a monthly survey of 5,000 representative U.S. households, which wrapped up on Feb. 17.
“The Present Situation Index, reflecting concerns about current business conditions and the job market, dropped to its lowest level in 27 years, reaching 19.4 compared with 25.2 last month. Consumers’ short-term outlook, reflected in the Expectations Index, also fell, with fewer consumers expecting business conditions and the job market to improve during the next six months,” Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board consumer research center, said in a news release. The index, which had been improving, fell to 63.8 in February, compared with 77.3 in January.
Consumers “remain extremely pessimistic about their income prospects,” Franco said, and the combination of earnings and job anxieties probably will continue to curb spending.
The negative outlook on jobs followed a rise in U.S. mass layoffs in January.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the Jacksonville metro area held steady at 11.3 percent in December, which was slightly lower than the state’s 11.8 percent, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.
A total of 76,558 people were out of work in December in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties compared with the 50,258 who were out of work one year ago.
Nassau County was the only one in the five-county area to see a rise in unemployment to 11. 3 percent in December from 11 percent the month prior and 7.2 percent in December 2008,
Duval County, which accounted for 52,620 of the laid off workers, had an unemployment rate of 11.8 percent, which was unchanged from November and up from the 7.7 percent in December 2008.
The three other counties in the region actually saw a decline in unemployment from November to December. St. Johns County’s fell from 9.8 in November to 9.6 percent in December, Baker’s went from 11.5 percent to 11.3 percent in December and Clay’s dropped from 10.5 percent to 10.4 percent. All three counties had an increase in unemployment from December 2008, however; St. Johns County from 6.4 percent, Baker County from 7.1 percent and Clay County from 6.9 percent.
Nearby Flagler County continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the state at 16.9 percent, which was up from 16.8 percent in November and 11.8 percent in December 2008. Liberty County, located in the Panhandle, had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 6 percent.
Florida’s total non-agricultural employment in December 2009 is 7.3 million, representing a job loss of 232,400, or -3.1 percent, compared with December 2008.
Nearly 1.1 million workers were jobless in Florida in December, which was the highest number in the state since May 1975. The state’s current unemployment rate is 1.8 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate of 10 percent.
The industry losing the most jobs was construction, which was down 59,900 jobs statewide, or 12.9 percent since December 2008.
Health care was Florida’s only growth sector for most of 2009. Health care and social assistance jobs grew by 11,000 jobs, or 1.2 percent, primarily in nursing and residential care facilities, since December 2008.
Courtesy Jacksonville Business Journal
Comment
If you're not already aware. This is what's going on in DC while dangerous criminals are allowed back out on the streets. It's horrifying that this is happening to our citizens and veterans for protesting the hijacking of our election process. This is still happening! They are STILL being tortured and treated like full on terrorists.
You may not be aware of the typical things they're forced to go through...…
ContinuePosted by Babs Jordan on August 14, 2022 at 8:44am
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