According to a recent Brookings Institute report, three big metro areas in Florida — Lakeland, Palm Bay, and Miami — are among the 20 weakest-performing cities in the country in the struggle to recover from the recession.
The study (.pdf) attributed Florida’s struggles to the housing crisis in the state. Florida, in particular, experienced a housing price boom that was followed by a bust that the state has yet to fully recover from.
According to Brookings, “twelve metropolitan areas, including three in Florida, had slowdowns of both job growth and output growth.” Overall (measuring through the recession and recovery), Florida has seven of the 20 lowest performing metro areas.
Despite mostly static unemployment numbers, Gov. Rick Scott insisted Friday that the state is on the “right path.” Scott told the Florida Chamber of Commerce in Orlando today that “his agenda of trimming government costs and regulations are working,” according to the Associated Press.
