Chief Economist Corner: The U.S. Is Officially Facing A Recession, But Florida’s Economy Continues To Grow
The Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Chamber Foundation’s team of researchers continuously monitors thousands of metrics and data regarding Florida’s economy. The U.S. is officially facing a recession, but Florida’s economy continues to grow.
Historically, a recession has been defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth of economic output in real GDP. Data shows the nation’s economy contracted in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2022) by -1.6% of growth, and the second quarter data (Q2 2022) released Friday, July 29th, 2022 has America’s economy contracting by -0.9%.
This is no surprise to most Americans and job creators as they have been dealing with 9.1% inflation driven, in large part, by the high cost of energy, which has increased 41.6% over the last year. The lack of a cohesive, consistent and effective policy for U.S. energy has had a detrimental effect in addressing the major driver of inflation in the U.S.
As the 15th largest global economy, Florida is doing better than the U.S. Nationwide, Florida created 1 out of every 13 jobs in the year ending in May 2022 and according to TheFloridaScorecard.org, is welcoming $23.7 billion in net personal income migration, roughly $2.7 million per hour, every hour of every day, along with 122.4 million visitors annually. Florida’s pro-business, pro-jobs climate along with its excellent quality of life, top rated schools, lack of a personal state income tax, low cost of living and commitment to keeping regulatory red tape and business taxes low attracted nearly 255,560 new residents to Florida in 2021 alone, the most of any state in the nation. The Florida Chamber Foundation tracks these metrics along with many others essential to securing Florida’s economic growth and diversification on TheFloridaScorecard.org.
The United States Consumer Sentiment Index hit its lowest point on record in June at 50.0 points but experienced an uptick of 1.1 points to 51.1 for July due to some relief in gas prices at the pump. At 62.9 points, Florida’s Consumer Sentiment Index is currently nearly 12 points higher than the United States overall.
Florida is one of only 15 states that has surpassed pracademic employment levels. For the month of June, the talent shortage continues as there was a gap of more than 300,000 open jobs looking for people than people actively looking for work.
As Florida’s business community unites to grow Florida’s from the 15th largest to the 10th largest economy in the world, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Chamber Foundation continues to track and analyze data to lead Florida’s economy on the road to 2030.
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Dr. Ben Tabatabaei is the Florida Chamber of Commerce Chief Economist & Executive Director of the International Center for Economic Development