Industrial jobs in Florida fell 7 percent between February 2009 and February 2010, according to the 2010 Florida Manufacturers Register, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers’ News.

According South Florida Business Journal, in those 12 months, Florida lost 38,278 industrial jobs and 932 manufacturers. The Sunshine State is now home to 14,928 manufacturers employing 505,005 workers.

Florida construction jobs are also down.

“It’s a perfect storm of negative conditions,” said Tom Dubin, president of the Evanston, Ill.-based publishing company. “The country has suffered deep losses in manufacturing employment due to automation and technology, outsourcing and the recession, while the faltering housing market has affected industries such as wood products, furniture and building products.

Among the findings from MNI:

?The lumber and wood sector saw the worst decline in employment in Florida, down 16.8 percent, while furniture/fixtures declined by 15.1 percent between February 2009 and February 2010.
?Electronics manufacturing has overtaken printing and publishing as the state’s largest industrial sector by employment, with 52,500 jobs, down 2.5 percent, year-to-year.
?Printing and publishing ranks second after losing 11 percent of its employment, and now accounts for 51,252 industrial workers.
?Third-ranked fabricated metal accounts for 48,076 industrial jobs, down 4.9 percent, year-to-year.
?Other sectors that lost jobs in the 12-month-period included transportation equipment, down 14.7 percent; rubber/plastics, down 10.4 percent; textiles/apparel, down 10.3 percent; stone/clay/glass, down 10.1 percent; paper products, down 10 percent; primary metals, down 8.9 percent; food products, down 4.8 percent; and industrial machinery, down 4.2 percent.

Central Florida accounted for the most industrial employment in the state, with 226,388 industrial jobs, down 7.8 percent over 12 months. South Florida accounted for 183,855 industrial jobs, down 4.9 percent. Northeast Florida is home to 65,968 industrial workers, down 4.9 percent, while the Panhandle is home to 28,794 workers, down 12.3 percent.

Jacksonville remains the state’s top city by industrial employment, with 41,618 manufacturing jobs, down 3.8 percent over the past year. Miami was second in industrial employment, with 40,095 industrial workers, an 8 percent decrease, while Orlando was third, with 33,300 industrial jobs, down 5.5 percent.

Tags: Floridian Jobs, Industrial jobs in Florida

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Jobs, Manufacturing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.