UCF Economist Predicts Slow Recovery in 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
By: Tom Parkinson

Florida's economy will slowly start to recover in 2010 but unemployment will still be in the double digits this time next year. Those are among the predictions in an end-of-year economic forecast from prominent University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith. He says retail sales will start to improve in the second half of 2010 and housing starts will grow steadily over the next 3 years. But he thinks the job market will be a stubborn problem. Snaith predicts the state's unemployment rate will not drop back to pre-recession levels until sometime in 2013. Snaith says Florida can no longer depend on the arrival of new residents to boost the economy. He believes the state's population will continue to decline in 2010 and won't start to grow again for several more years.