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What’s on the Horizon for the First Coast Economy?

August 18th, 2010 · Leave a Comment

It was all about jobs, housing, the Port and the overall Jacksonville economy at the recent Cornerstone Business Development Standing Committee meeting. The quarterly meeting brings Cornerstone members together to discuss the state and local economic outlook and how it relates to bringing new businesses to the First Coast.

Mark Vitner of Wells Fargo Securities, LLC Economics Group prepared an overall outlook of Florida’s economy for distribution at the meeting. Here’s a brief snapshot of what’s going on in Jacksonville:

  • Jacksonville’s labor market has improved since the darkest days of the recession. Layoffs have slowed significantly in the private sector and hiring has slightly picked up. That being said – there is still a long way to go. Jacksonville-area businesses have lost 57,400 jobs since 2007 and have added 1,400 net jobs with gains primarily in education, healthcare, retail and professional services.
  • The unemployment rate shows signs of topping out, but is still more than twice the city’s long-term average. The elevated rates reflect the effects of the recession with a large number of the unemployed coming from the construction, manufacturing and financial services sectors.
  • Jacksonville didn’t see as big a boom in housing prices as the state’s other large metro areas, but home prices are down about 23 percent from their peak in 2007. Employment in construction is down 11 percent on a year-over-year basis although the recent homebuyers’ tax credit generated a slight pick up in new construction.
  • The Port of Jacksonville is set to benefit from the expansion of the Panama Canal, which will allow more traffic and bigger ships to access ports on the East Coast to benefit from Asian trading. Funding needs to be found for the port so we do not lose out to other ports in Savannah and Charleston.
  • Jacksonville has secured 9.1 percent of Florida’s allocation for Build America Bonds and has issued $339 million as of April 2010. The proceeds from bond sales are to be used for transit, recreational facilities and public safety improvements.

This is educational information that can be used to move our economy forward and help attract new business to the First Coast. What are your thoughts about Jacksonville’s current economy? Are you seeing progress in your industry? If so, let us know in the comments section below.

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