Wachovia report: Florida hit harder by recession - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Florida went into the recessionn nine months ahead of the rest of theUnitedc States, and excesses in housing and commerciaol real estate are considerably worse than the natiobn as a whole, the report says. Statewide, the median salee price of existing homew is down about 45 percent from the peak of the housinvg boom inNovember 2005, but the drop in the Tamp a Bay area is even steeped at about 60 percent. Employment conditions continuerto deteriorate, the report says. The state’d unemployment rate is expected to top out arounx11 percent, Wachovia projects, with a loss of 720,009 jobs, including 430,000 jobs lost this year.
reported 137 layoff events during the first more than double theprevious period. Job losse are heaviest in industries with direct ties to thebuildingv boom, including construction and Wachovia said. Wachovia estimatees Floridians saw a net lossof $1.2 trillionj in household wealth during 2008 with abouft two-thirds of that drop occurrint in financial assets.