An exclusive five-year analysis of local job growth by Tallahassee Reports shows that the Tallahassee MSA significantly lags state wide trends in total job growth and job growth in the private sector.
The Great Recession is years behind us and the economic recovery over the last five years at the national level has been characterized by positive, but slow job growth.
However, the somewhat positive news about job growth has been offset by slow growth in wages and the concern about the types of jobs created.
TR used publicly available records to analyze the changes in the Tallahassee job market during the last five years.
The chart below shows job growth by sector in the Tallahassee MSA from September 2010 to September 2015.
Sep-2010 | Sep-2015 | Change |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Non-Ag Jobs | 169,300 | 175,200 | 5,900 |
| Private Sector | 106,100 | 114,100 | 8,000 |
| Manufacturing & Constr. | 10,300 | 8,600 | -1,700 |
| Retail Trade | 20,600 | 23,400 | 2,800 |
| Leisure & Hospitality | 25,700 | 29,400 | 3,700 |
| Education & Health Serv. | 19,700 | 21,100 | 1,400 |
| Info., Financial & Professional Serv. | 27,900 | 29,800 | 1,900 |
| Government | 63,200 | 61,100 | -2,100 |
Our analysis looks at three areas.
Total non-agriculture job growth.
The Tallahassee MSA has added a total of 5,900 jobs over the last five years.
The chart shows the total non-agriculture employment increased from 169,300 in September 2010 to 175,200 in September 2015. That is a 3.48% increase for the five year period.
The job growth at the state level during this period shows a gain of 898,000 jobs, which is a 12.5% increase.
This means, over the last five years, jobs grew 3.5 times faster at the state level than in the Tallahassee MSA.
Private sector and government jobs.
The Tallahassee MSA added 8,000 net private sector jobs (7.54% increase) and lost 2,100 government jobs, (3.32% decrease), during the five year period.
Approximately 90% of the jobs loss in the government sector were lost in state government. Federal government and local government jobs held steady during the five-year period.
At the state level, Florida added 928,300 private sector jobs (15.3% increase) and lost 30,300 government jobs (2.7% decrease).
Types of jobs created.
Over the last five years 9,700 private sector jobs were created in Tallahassee MSA. However, 1,700 manufacturing and construction jobs were lost. The loss of the manufacturing and construction jobs was a 16% decline from 2010.
The leading sectors in job creation in the Tallahassee MSA were Retail Trade and Hospitality. These sectors added 7,000 jobs, a 20% increase over the 2010 numbers.
The high wage sectors of Information, Finance, and Professional Business Services were responsible for adding 1,900 jobs during the five-year period, an increase of approximately 7.0%.
How do these numbers compare to state level job creation? Our next report will address that question.
Five-Year Analysis Shows Tallahassee Significantly Lags State in Job Growth Rate added by Staff on
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Tallahassee has one main industry; the production of Bachelor of Science degrees. We have a trade deficit because the “product” is exported with little in exchange except fast food job opportunities.
We will solve golf course desertion, housing stagnation and low economic growth when we create jobs for those with newly minted BS degrees.