Stimulus Spending has Helped 153,000 Florida Workers

A year ago, Florida expected to receive $12.5 billion from the stimulus bill. Now the estimate is up to $19.5 billion, as 153,000 Florida workers' jobs have been either saved or created as a result of stimulus spending.

Although Florida still suffers from a rising unemployment rate, currently at 12.3%, conditions would be much worse without the federal spending which extended unemployment benefits and created job opportunities for Floridians.

The stimulus bill has helped save or create jobs for 2.8 million workers nationwide.

Florida's Population Projected to Increase Despite Economy

Florida is one of the states which has been most affected by the economic recession, especially in terms of mortgages and foreclosures. However, Florida's residential real estate market may find relief in the projected population increases for our state. 

Florida has long been one of the fastest growing states, both from natural population growth and foreign and domestic migration. Everyone knows a lot of people come to Florida to retire, but many middle aged and young people across the world also move to Florida in search of work. 

Since the recession began in 2007, Florida's population has been steadily increasing at a rate of over 200,000 residents per year. From 2010 to 2020 this number is expected to increase to over 300,000 residents a year - on par with the population boom of the 1980s and '90s. 

This increase is due to the surge of baby boom retirees and the abundance of new job opportunities in Florida's metropolitan areas. Tourism, technology, international trade and business services are all fields that attract 20-50 year olds to Florida's cities. Many of these new residents of Florida travel from New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, U.K and Canada to take advantage of Florida's diverse economy.

The US Census has projected that by 2010, Florida will overtake New York as the third most populated state.