\u201cThis report does nothing to imply that the state\u2019s recovery has changed trajectory,\u201d said University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith. \u201cThe recovery remains sluggish, so we\u2019re going to have to once again ask Santa for a robust economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the unemployment rate dropped in the Sunshine State last month to 8.5 percent \u2013 the best number in almost four years — that\u2019s still well above the national average of 7.9 percent. People who have simply stopped looking for work because they are frustrated they can\u2019t find a job represent a significant part of the drop in the unemployment rate, Snaith explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking only at how much the unemployment rate has dropped, you might think the pace of economic growth is rapid, but that\u2019s not happening,\u201d Snaith said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s because of uncertainty and the slowing national recovery. \u00a0Hiring is happening. But it\u2019s tepid at best.\u201d<\/p>\n
And without a pick-up in the hiring pace, the economy will continue to be underwhelming.<\/p>\n
Florida shaved 20,000 people from its unemployment rolls while creating 14,700 jobs in October. While some retailers said they would hire more seasonal workers for the holiday, others like big box store Target, said it would be hiring fewer people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a mixed bag at best,\u201d Snaith said.<\/p>\n
Snaith is the director of UCF\u2019s Institute for Economic Competitiveness. He is a national expert in economics, forecasting, market sizing and economic analysis who authors quarterly reports about the state of the economy. Bloomberg News has named Snaith as one of the country\u2019s most accurate forecasters for his predictions about the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate, the Federal Funds rate.<\/p>\n
Snaith also is a member of several national forecasting panels, including The Wall Street Journal Economic Forecasting Survey, CNNMoney.com’s survey of leading economists, the Associated Press Economy Survey, the National Association of Business Economics Quarterly Outlook Survey Panel, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters, the Livingston Survey, Bloomberg U.S. Economic Indicator Survey, Reuters U.S. Economy Survey and USA Today Economic Survey Panel.<\/p>\n
The Institute for Economic Competitiveness strives to provide complete, accurate and timely national, state and regional forecasts and economic analyses. Through these analyses, the institute provides valuable resources to the public and private sectors for informed decision-making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThis report does nothing to imply that the state\u2019s recovery has changed trajectory,\u201d said University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith. \u201cThe recovery remains sluggish, so we\u2019re going to have to once again ask Santa for a robust economy.\u201d While the unemployment rate dropped in the Sunshine State last month to 8.5 percent \u2013 the best number in almost four…","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":43256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[1490,4194,202],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-43254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-community","tag-economy","tag-sean-snaith","tag-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\n