Justin Snyder: No, Governor, it’s not working

When visiting your campaign website, it didn’t take long for me to discover your campaign for the upcoming 2014 gubernatorial election.  It’s a slogan that implies that Florida’s economy has turned a corner and that your policies have set us on a path to economic stability and sustainable growth.  It’s a slogan that implies a stellar economic record. One that boasts a claim of creating 369,100 jobs during your first term resulting in a 4% drop in unemployment. One that that takes credit for increasing education funding by $2 billion, and balancing the budget (twice) all the while, inheriting massive deficits and fighting the Obama Economy.  It’s a slogan that paints a picture that only partisan Republicans can see and one that Florida voters can and will see right through.

“It’s Working?” I’m afraid not Governor. Allow me to explain my dismay. You haven’t been the leader behind a robust recovery. You didn’t increase education funding by $2 billion, in fact your 2011-2012 budget CUT education funding by $3.3 billion resulting in Florida’s universities to increase tuition.  You boast that the unemployment rate in the state dropped 4% since the beginning of your term, however according to the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, 36.4% of the drop in the unemployment rate is due to Floridians dropping out of the labor force and 58% of the jobs you’ve created are minimum wage jobs. More on that in a minute.

Your website claims that Florida’s has added 369,100 jobs.  More than half of the 700,000 that you campaigned on creating.  This number is deceiving and is in need of intense scrutiny. While you and the leadership at the Republican Party of Florida flaunt this number as a trophy of success, in reality, it’s a number with darker and even truer meanings.  It’s a number that when broken down , shows that Rick Scotts’ Florida is place where good jobs go to die, and minimum wage jobs go to thrive.

A Miami Herald article cites a study by the Florida International University’s Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy, that shows Florida’s recovery from the national Great Recession, has been dominated by the creation of minimum wage jobs. “The three industries that account for 63% of all minimum wage jobs in Florida—hospitality, retail, and health care have also been leading the recovery.  At the same time, construction and government jobs, have been receding at a high rate. Construction hiring is down about 50% from past peaks, a loss of 270,000 jobs and we’ve cut 41,000 government jobs in Florida since 2007.  The same article mentions a similar study by the National Employment Law Project which shows that this minimum wage jobs made up 21% of the jobs that were lost during that recession but 58% percent of those created during the recovery. Mid-wage jobs made up 60% of the losses during the recession but have only made up 22% of gains during the recovery that you and the RPOF are taking credit for.

It’s Working Governor?! In an era where the American middle class has been eroding for decades, your jobs plan for Florida’s Future is to bank of the creation of minimum wage McJobs? We are in an era of rising prices, falling wages and rampant globalization and you are banking your reelection on an economic record of low wage jobs. I remind you governor that  one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less. Even more disturbing, an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make LESS than $30,000 a year. In other words, about one out of every four American workers brings home wages that are at or below the federal poverty level. As commodity prices continue to trend upwards, median income has actually declined four years in a row to the tune of $4000 over that span. Your boasting of the creation of these types of jobs, doesn’t bode well for Florida’s middle class, or our economy as a whole.

The logo is more than misleading. It’s a lie. It’s hurtful to working Floridians that work two or three of your mcjobs and still can’t get ahead in an era of rising prices, more expensive utilities, and sequestration. Florida’s economy is not recovering. It’s teetering on the edge of a lost future thanks to the jobs policies you and your administration have enacted. We cannot create an economy built for the future with jobs of the past.  Florida needs new ideas, and leadership at all levels of government, starting with you Governor. Florida’s middle class has been hurting for far too long.