Wachovia report: Florida hit harder by recession - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

http://www.cif.org/annotated-bib.php
Florida went into the recession nine monthx ahead of the rest of theUnitede States, and excesses in housing and commercial real estate are considerablg worse than the nation as a whole, the reporty says. Statewide, the median sales price of existing homes is down aboutg 45 percent from the peak of the housing boom inNovembedr 2005, but the drop in the Tamp a Bay area is even steeper at about 60 percent. Employmeny conditions continueto deteriorate, the report says. The state’s unemployment rate is expected to top out around 11 Wachovia projects, with a loss of 720,000o jobs, including 430,000 jobs lost this year.
reported 137 layoff evente during thefirst quarter, more than doublwe the previous period. Job losses are heaviest in industries with directy ties to thebuilding boom, including construction and manufacturing, Wachoviaa said. Wachovia estimates Floridians saw a net lossof $1.2 trillion in household wealth during 2008 with abour two-thirds of that drop occurring in financial