The fewest South Floridians since 2008 are asking for unemployment checks. Declining claims suggest South Florida employers haven’t launched significant layoffs.
New requests for unemployment aid have dropped to a four-year low in South Florida, as the labor market slowly recovers from the recession.
The recent tally of first-time claims for unemployment insurance most commonly capture the fad of hiring for 2012: better, but not great. combined claims in October dropped 8 percent from 2011 levels, which presentations improvement but isn’t as regards to the 25 % drops seen at the beginning of 2012.
Job growth has followed a similar track this year: up, but anemic compared to gains seen in 2011 and early 2012. On Friday, South Florida receives its October employment report, and economists will be looking for hints of a pickup.
“The Miami-Dade economy was riding high in 2011, but it hit a soft patch this year,” said Karl Kuykendall, an economist for IHS Global who follows the Florida economy. “This year has been rather disappointing.”
One of the big switches this year used to be a slowdown in hospitality hiring, which had pushed lots of South Florida’s spectacular employment numbers because the recession ended. but persisted declines in executive and development employment stay massive anchors on the rebound.
Ann Machado, president of the Creative Staffing employment firm, said the presidential elections prompted a number of firms to hold off hiring decisions before November. At a recent gathering of fellow staffing executives, Machado said most colleagues were encouraged.
“Everybody said business was up,” she said. “There’s a general feeling that we’re getting there.”
In Broward, 6,345 folks filed first-time unemployment claims in October. the use of a three-month average, that’s down 12 percent from filings in October 2011. In Miami-Dade, 9,620 other people filed for his or her first unemployment benefits in October, down 5 percent from a 12 months in the past.
Declining claims counsel South Florida employers haven’t introduced vital layoffs because the September employment file, while task expansion was modest. Economists be expecting important layoffs around the united states if Washington can not get to the bottom of its budget difficulty. Steep spending cuts and fashionable tax hikes will take effect Jan. 1 if Congress and the White area can’t agree to a debt-aid plan or every other selection. most forecasts suppose a resolution to the “financial cliff,” but the main points could be crucial.
Should businesses and consumers embrace a compromise, it could be the trigger that turns a modest economy into something more robust.
“It doesn’t take much for the economy to really get moving,” said Chris Lafakis, an economist who follows the Florida economy for Moody’s. “Because the seeds of a strong recovery have already been sown.”