By Valerie Whitney

Original Link:  Daytona Beach, News-Journal, FL  04.17.10

April 17, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH -- Unemployment in Volusia and Flagler counties edged down in March for the second consecutive month, possibly signaling the start of the long-awaited recovery in the area's job market.

The two-county area posted a 13.1 percent rate, down from 13.4 percent in February but still higher than 10.4 percent in March 2009.

"We experienced a mild improvement in the employment situation of Flagler and Volusia counties in the month of March," said Lou Paris, spokesman for the Center for Business Excellence. "The foreseeable future may be characterized by sporadic shifts in the employment climate -- at times, good and, at times, not as good -- before we can speak of a clear growth trend."

Individually, Flagler's unemployment rate fell to 16.6 percent last month, down from the 17 percent posted in February, but it was still the highest in the state, according to statistics released Friday by the state Agency for Workforce Development.

At 12.7 percent, Volusia County ranked 20th in the state. It was at 13 percent in February.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March 2010 was 12.3 percent, up from 12.2 percent in February's rate and up from 9.6 percent in March 2009. Florida's unemployment rate remains higher than the national rate, which was 9.7 percent in March.

The slight month-to-month drop coincides with a slowdown predicted in January by Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida. At that time, Snaith said unemployment probably wouldn't improve until March or April.

"Statewide, the data is consistent with being at or quite near the bottom in the labor market," Snaith said Friday.

Now, he said, workers will have to develop patience.

"The recovery's speed will be frustrating at first, given how far we've fallen," said Snaith, who is director of UCF's Institute for Economic Competitiveness.

Fortunately, he said, education and health services remain the least-impacted sectors during and after the recession.

Also, "We are starting to see a glimmer of hope in the professional and business services sector," he said.

Statewide, about 1.14 million workers were unemployed out of a labor force of about 9.3 million.

Florida job postings compiled by the Help Wanted Online data series from The Conference Board totaled 232,200 ads last month, up 10.4 percent from February. That was the largest over-the-month gain since the series began in 2005.

One of those looking for work is area resident Kathleen McGilloway, who quit her job in June 2009 to care for her ailing mother. Now that her mother has recovered, McGilloway has started looking for work.

"I've been here every day this week," said the 50-year-old certified paralegal, who was at the One-Stop Career Center Friday on Bill France Boulevard.

Besides taking advantage of some of the free computer classes, she also had the chance to update her resume.

McGilloway feels confident she will be able to land a job.

"I'm a pretty positive person," she said.

Terry Hardwick, who lost her job in customer service two years ago, also visited the center Friday.

Hardwick, who moved here from Miami, said her unemployment benefits have run out, and her "landlord is not understanding."

"No one is hiring," she said, adding she posted her resume online but, so far, no job.

Hardwick, 50, said she thinks the fact she has been out of work for so long might be working against her.

She might be right. Longer spells of unemployment can deplete worker skills, making unemployment more difficult, officials said.

Other issues blamed for the continuing high unemployment include tight credit conditions and frugal consumer spending, higher worker productivity due to automation and other technological improvements and mismatched skills of those unemployed relative to job openings.