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Report: Florida's unemployment rate good, but hourly wages lag Associated Press
August 29, 2003
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Florida may have a lower unemployment rate than the national average, but the state's hourly workers continue to earn wages that are among the nation's lowest, according to a university report based.
Florida workers - especially those in low-wage jobs in the hospitality, retail and health care trades - earn less compared to workers in most other states, according to the study released Thursday by Florida International University's Center for Labor Research and Studies in Miami.
"We are filling up the state with low-wage, low-quality jobs. And that's a major problem," economics professor Bruce Nissen said. He said Florida has stacked up lower than national averages since he began doing the report six years ago.
The median wage for workers paid by the hour in Florida in 2002 was $9.90, 5.4 percent below the national average of $10.47, the report said. Florida was also below most other Southeastern states, where the median was $10.18.
More than a quarter of all Florida workers, or 27 percent, are the "working poor" - making less than $8 an hour or $16,640 a year, said the report, which is based on state and federal statistics. The national average is 24 percent. That leaves many working Floridians below the federal poverty level of $18,400 for a family of four.
Alia Faraj, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, did not have an immediate comment. A spokesman at the state Agency for Workforce Innovation did not return a call seeking comment.
The report did point to several bright spots. Florida's overall unemployment level is better than the national average and the Sunshine State is creating jobs at a faster pace. The state's unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in June, lower than the national average of 6.4 percent, both in seasonally adjusted terms.
In 2002, the median per capita income in the Sunshine State rose 1.7 percent, or $511, to $29,559, from 2001. That was 4.1 percent below the national figure of $30,832. Per capita income includes interest and investment earnings.
Adjusted for inflation, Florida median hourly rates in 2002 grew by 6.1 percent since 1989 levels, above the 2.7 percent growth on the national level, Nissen said.
Nissen makes 11 recommendations in the report that could help improve the situation for Florida's workers. Among them, he proposes reducing the restrictions for unemployment benefits, a statewide minimum wage and banning employer interference in union organizing where public money is involved. He also proposes instituting a living-wage law that requires all state employees and the employees of state contractors be paid above the poverty level for a family of four.
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