The Florida Roundup - The struggle to make ends meet; union and state government jobs; jail troubles across Florida

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

This week on The Florida Roundup we discussed the availability and the quality of jobs, how strong is labor in the Sunshine State economy? (1:01); Unions then your calls and emails about work and whether jobs are really paying the bills to live in Florida (20:30); and investigations into questionable conditions and concerning deaths at jails in Duval and Miami Dade Counties, plus other stories you may have missed from around the state, like a Keaton Beach Fish Fry after Hurricane Idalia (40:00).

This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for listening. Today, let's start with jobs. The U.S. job market, it's been incredibly strong, adding tens of thousands of jobs each month. For the past three years and counting, it's really gotten hot after the COVID pandemic jobs depression. And Florida's job market has been one of the strongest. More jobs were created in Florida in July than any other state. Yet many workers continue struggling to make ends meet. Inflation, higher interest rates, and the high cost of housing stretches the paychecks of a lot of people.

So what's your working story? How are you making your paycheck stretch? Have you changed jobs since the pandemic? What was that job search like? And why did you change jobs? Email us, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Or call us, 305-995-1800.

305-995-1800. Your emails and calls coming up. We spoke with Ali Bustamante. He's with the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University, and he writes the annual report, State of Working Florida. Ali, welcome to the Florida Roundup. So what has fueled the job growth in Florida that we've seen some of these historically low unemployment rates? rates? I would certainly point to two very interesting factors. One of them is the fact that during the pandemic, we saw this really huge trend in terms of an influx of population into the state. And so a primary driver of a lot of the economic growth and job growth that we've seen in the state is largely attributed to just this influx of population that's just been really fueling the economy. The second piece that I would certainly point to is the fact that when it comes to Florida, we tend to experience recessions in a way that is much deeper than

the national average. And when it comes to economic recoveries, we also see that same trend. So right now, we're actually seeing the Florida economy certainly outpacing regional economies. We tend to overdo it both during the great times and during the bad times in Florida. So there are more jobs in Florida, no doubt about it. But to that first point you make in terms of population growth, only about six out of 10 working-aged Floridians are employed. So what contributes to that? The main indicator we like to look at is the employment and population ratio. Historically, Florida has actually had a very small share relative to other states of its population being employed. In fact,

you know, part of the pandemic, just about 57% of Floridians of working age were employed. That's drastically lower than the national average, which is much more closer to 61%. However, post pandemic, we've actually seen an increase for Florida to 58%. It's just this drastic, I think, composition issue in terms of the population. We have a lot of older Americans who live in Florida, but not necessarily for the purposes of employment, right? They're certainly an above average number of retirees in the state. And so that's kind of one of the mechanisms where we've actually seen a lot of folks come into the state in terms of this inward migration and fuel the economy, but not necessarily for the purposes of employment. So doesn't this create a labor shortage in some

regions where we are seeing the economy continue to boom post-pandemic, populations are increasing, but the proportion of people working is not necessarily jumping? Right now, what we're actually seeing is record low levels of unemployment. We have right now, I think most recently, we're under 3%, about 2.7% statewide. And that really shows, I think really epitomizes how tight this labor market is, how hot this labor market is. When it comes to labor shortages, part of it is there's certainly whether companies themselves are being competitive enough in terms of their wages and benefits. But, you know, it really kind of creates a lot of competition among firms in the same industry and in different industry. And that's where, you know, the potential

for labor shortages isn't, to me, that much of a concern, given that there are these mechanisms that allow for competition to take its place and ultimately the firms who are able to really respond to the market and make sure that they are competitive employment, that they'll meet their labor needs. But is there a risk of the lack of job seekers holding back economic growth? We're seeing population growth, record levels of unemployment. Ultimately, do we come to an intersection where job creators simply are held back creating new positions because they are not convinced that there are people to fill those positions? Yes. You know, one of the parts that I would certainly kind of go back to is that we have seen this influx of the power of tight and hot labor markets have in economies, in regional economy, their ability to ultimately attract folks from other states. In fact, we know it very well in terms of the context of South Florida, you know, the ability to actually even attract folks from other countries. When we think about labor markets, these are really dynamic markets that are not isolated in terms of local communities.

You know, we see an influx not just in Florida of investment, but. We see an influx, not just in Florida of investment, but we certainly see an influx of people as well. And I suspect the remote work revolution that was sparked by COVID-19 has helped as well, that labor markets are no longer quite as localized or parochial as they had been. Absolutely. Florida has been a big winner when it comes to remote work, as you know, folks have left a lot of states like New York, California, and actually have gone to Florida where the weather is nice. Most of the time, not all the time. You know that most of the time. Yeah, most of the time. Unemployment rates for Black and Hispanic Floridians usually are higher than

that for white workers. Has there been any change to that dynamic in the post-pandemic job market here? White workers have historically had very low levels of unemployment in the state. In fact, usually almost always below 3%, usually around 2%. And that's something that hasn't changed. Right now, we actually do have the unemployment for white workers around 2%, really, again, reflecting the fact that this economy, the way it's currently structured, and the legacy of jobs that we currently have in the state are certainly benefiting this population. However, historically, we've seen extremely high levels of unemployment rate gaps between

white workers and Latino workers or Black workers, so much so that we've oftentimes seen Black and Hispanic workers have seven times the unemployment rate of most white workers. What's been extremely beneficial during this hot economic recovery has been how much of that gap we've actually closed over the past couple of years. Now we're actually seeing Latino workers with an unemployment rate of about 5.5, 5.6 percent, and looking at black workers with an unemployment rate of about 3.4 percent. These are huge reductions in this kind of gap, this racial gap that we've had in employment patterns historically in Florida. And what has contributed to that? The main driver of closing that gap has been the fact that when it comes to the hot labor market, there's been disproportionate pressure on lower wage sectors to raise wages. And it's those sectors that have really brought in a lot of folks into employment, one who were unemployed in the first place, but also has brought in a lot of folks from the sidelines of the labor market.

economic ladder when it comes to jobs has really been disproportionately beneficial to those workers who have historically lived in these kind of sectors, particularly whether you're looking at hospitality, whether you're looking at more administrative office jobs. These are the industries that have historically employed a disproportionate number of racial and ethnic minorities. And we're certainly seeing that benefit being passed on to them during this time. And we're certainly seeing that benefit being passed on to them during this time. We're talking about the labor markets in Florida, the job market. How has your job search been going? If you've been out looking for work, we'd like to hear your story, share your story on our email. It is radio at the Florida Roundup dot o r g radio at the Florida Roundup dot org. You may call us at 305-995-1800, 305-995-1800. We're speaking with Ali Bustamante, the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University, the author of the annual State of Working Florida. What types of jobs have contributed to the rebound of the job market and any expectations for this kind of hot job market to continue?

Yes, right now there certainly is an expectation for the hot job market and any expectations for this kind of hot job market to continue? Yes, right now, there certainly is an expectation for the hot job market to continue. And a big part of it is, again, we're seeing a lot of different drivers of this economic growth, one, not just, again, the population, but certainly this idea that really over the past couple of years, Florida has become a job creator, a job driver, and a job center in terms of just remote work individuals that have come to the state. And so we're seeing a slight push towards a bit more diversification in our economy. We certainly have, you know, our traditional sectors that are still some of the most dominant ones in terms of professional and business services and healthcare and social assistance. These are really the foundational sectors of the state

that are really doing just fine. Construction, particularly with a lot of infrastructure investments that the federal government has made over the past couple of years, that's going to keep fueling construction in years ahead. The one sector where we've seen just a continuous trend of reduction has been in local government employment. And state government. Yes.

It's kind of paradoxical. You think we've had a pandemic, you think we've had a lot of these kinds of crisis moments, and you would think there would be a lot of employment growth in terms of state capacity or local government capacity. But that's just something that we actually haven't seen over these past few years. Let's talk about pay, Ali.

How is the strong job market affecting what Floridians are actually seeing in their paychecks? Right now, we're seeing a lot of the concentration of economic benefits from this hot labor market really being concentrated in terms of lower wage jobs. This is despite the fact that I think a lot of folks have said historically over time that higher minimum wages, they promote unemployment or that they inhibit job growth. But what we're really actually seeing is that despite the fact that we've had state minimum wages that are above the federal minimum wage, we've still seen a lot of upward push along the lower wage, minimum wage

kind of jobs. And a big reason for that is that we just have considerable demand in a lot of these sectors that have just been enabled firms to really absorb the cost increase of wages. Florida pay has been increasing, but it hasn't been increasing at the same rate as national pay in terms of average household incomes. Why is that? just really largely due to the structure of the economy where we've seen this hot labor market, not just fueling wages to a clip that we haven't seen very much in the past, where we had a lot of stagnant wages. However, the big mechanism that we've actually been able to see that has been a buffer to higher wage growth has been the influx of workers into the workforce. So it's the supply of new workers that has helped keep perhaps a

little bit more of a ceiling on pay raises in Florida. Exactly right. So nationally, while I think the issues of labor shortages has certainly merited in many different sectors nationally, in the context of Florida, we've just seen such a great influx of workers that have really pushed supply to really catch up with demand in many ways. And that has actually served as really an intervening factor that has mediated wage growth over the past couple of years. So that wage growth and the wage picture, of course, in the pandemic and post-pandemic has come squarely into conflict with the inflation trends that all Americans have been experiencing,

but have been particularly acute in Florida. You write in your report, quote, Americans' experiences with inflation are primarily shaped by their local labor market. So I want to ask about Florida, and particularly Tampa and Miami especially, continues to experience some of the highest inflation rates in the country. So how has inflation affected the job market? And this is really, I think, the critical part of that we focus on our reports is because, as I mentioned, we have this very tight labor market. We have some robust wage growth, although, again, not as high as the national average. And so when you look at a lot of these basic markers of economic indicators, we're seeing job growth, we're seeing increased employment and population ratios, we're seeing a lot of economic activity. We're seeing job growth. We're seeing increased employment

and population ratios. We're seeing a lot of economic activity. And yet, when we're looking at the actual economic well-being of Florida residents, it's been very much undermined because of inflation. Even this summer, Miami and Tampa particularly had a couple of the highest inflation rates in the country. The fact that we're experiencing persistently high inflation a year later after nationally in most regions across the country have actually experienced significant declines, that is really undermining economic well-being for many Floridians. That higher inflation rate in Florida has been almost exclusively driven by higher housing costs, the cost of shelter, as the economists will call it, this high cost of living, relatively lower wages or lack of significant wage increases. This has

been an ongoing issue, Ali, you know, in many Florida communities for lots and lots of years. How can this continue to persist? It's been so pronounced in Florida, the fact that we have this just more than twice the rate of inflation when it comes to housing than we see in the national average, the level of amplification that we're actually experiencing in terms of shelter cost increases cannot be understood. And I think, as you mentioned, so many Floridians have been facing this for several years. This is despite the fact that, you know, in the context of Florida and many of the large municipalities, we've actually seen considerable activity in terms of housing construction. You know, Florida and a lot of municipalities tend to benefit from housing codes that are relatively flexible.

that allow dynamism in the housing sector and housing construction. We're just not necessarily seeing it to the point where enough of that housing is actually being created. Ali Bustamante is with the Center for Labor Research and Studies at Florida International University, author of the annual report, State of Working Florida. Ali, we asked some listeners to email us their working stories, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Mark in Sarasota sent us a note. He's been a truck driver for decades, but said he can actually make more money now as an Uber driver, up to $25 an hour. His rent in the Sarasota area is $1,550 a month, or about 50% of his take-home pay. And he writes, quote, there are basically two types of people in Sarasota Manatee counties, workers and retirees. But if you work here,

you'll never afford to retire here. So he says he's moving out of Florida later this month after 35 years. Yeah, that's sobering. That is certainly a sobering story. And again, it really goes back to this very clearly found in the data, this housing pressure that is really creating a lot of financial stress for most Floridians across the state. The idea that the transportation sector, as a very clear example, that this is a sector that has generally been fueled by skills, by relatively easily attainable credentials. That is representative of the great majority of Floridians who don't necessarily have advanced degrees, who don't necessarily work in these very specialized professional fields. And so when we're thinking about this case, it's, I mean, it's just really

representative of most Floridians and what they're experiencing. Eric in Miami has a bit of a different story. He's 60 years old. And he wrote us in an email that during COVID, he decided that he did not want to return to the hospitality industry where he had worked prior to the pandemic. So he went back to school for a teaching master's degree. English is a second language. a teaching master's degree. English is a second language. He sent out two resumes, he said, Ali, for part-time teaching jobs at private schools and got two job offers, two resumes, two job offers. That's a pretty good ratio. He now says he's working part-time teaching English at a for-profit private school. And he writes, quote, the on-fire job market enables me to be able to pick and choose and create the good work-life university balance. That is a great story here. And again, it kind of really doves tail to the point that

I was just making a moment ago, which is for folks with higher credentials that do have advanced degrees in much more professionalized workforces are really kind of having the best of both worlds in this case, because they do have, I think, higher incomes that are able to absorb these housing cost pressures in a much better way than lower income workers. At the same time, it also points to this idea that the private sector is really driving a lot of this growth as the public sector has really scaled down employment, both at the state and local levels. We're certainly seeing opportunities for private firms to provide these services that would otherwise been provided by the state. And that has been a huge source of demand fueling a lot of employment growth in these particular sectors like education.

Big picture, Ali, do you see any signs in the data you reviewed of a significant slowdown in hiring in Florida or even a jobs recession? Oh, you know, I would say the probability of that is close to, you know, close to nil as possible right now. Snow in Orlando perhaps has a higher chance, maybe? Yes. And, you know, we're seeing even the most economically depressed regions in the state, whether you're looking at the Sebring area or the the Homosassa Springs area. These are places where we're still seeing four percent or sub four percent unemployment. We have a historically hot labor market right now. Some would argue, though, Ali, that the unemployment rate has nowhere to go but up. We can actually have persistently low unemployment rates, you know, as long as two things are happening. One, we're increasing the labor supply and we're maintaining job growth. One of the best and most sustainable ways to achieve economic growth as any economy is by

increasing population. And that is not just economic growth that is happening today, but it's economic growth that will really pay dividends going into the next 10 years or more. Ali Bustamante is a researcher with the Center for Labor Research and Studies, Florida International University, author of the report, State of Working Florida. Ali, always a pleasure. Thanks so much. Thank you. Still to come, while there are a lot more jobs, the share of union jobs continues dropping. Thank you. Kjell Kjell Thank you. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson.

Thanks for joining us. Next week on this program, we'll be talking about a big change coming for Medicare and prescription drugs. Florida has more people using Medicare for their health care than any other state except one. And for the first time, the government health system will negotiate prices of 10 common medicines. Eliquis, Jardiance, Xerlito, just a few. If you recognize those names and take them,

how much do you pay now? How much does your prescription medicine cost you? What do you think about Medicare using its buying power to negotiate drug prices like private insurance companies do? Email us now, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, radio at thefloridaroundup.org, and we may use your stories next week. Today, we're talking about jobs. The strong job market across the nation has given employees more power to negotiate pay. It's also helped boost union membership across the country compared to two years ago. Still, the proportion of workers belonging to a collective bargaining unit continues falling

in America. Only about one out of every 17 workers is a union member, and it's less in Florida, where union membership is among the lowest in the nation, only about 1 in 20 workers here in the Sunshine State are represented by unions. Public worker unions have new rules here, thanks to a new state law that went into effect this summer. And now it's kind of like do or die because, you know, this law is ultimately an attack on working class people. That's Cedoria Brown in June. She's the president of a local union chapter representing about 7,500 county government employees

like transit workers and court system workers. The new law bans local governments from deducting union dues from worker paychecks. Instead, union members have to directly pay their union fees separate from their paycheck. Republican Senator Blaise Ngogelea sponsored the legislation. We don't think that government should be collecting the dues and dispersing the dues on that. In March, he said eliminating the automatic paycheck deduction will improve communications between union members and their union leaders. What I'm seeing is that union leadership is very disconnected from the union membership. Public worker unions have until

the beginning of next month to have at least 60 percent of people covered by a collective bargaining agreement paying those dues. And if not, the union could be decertified. We're talking about jobs in Florida. Yeah, it's a hot jobs market. But what about pay? Have you been hunting for a new job? What has that pay negotiation been like? Are you a union member? What's your experience like working in Florida? Email us now, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. We got a note from our friend listening in, let's see here, where was he? Roger in Winter Park. We'll read your email coming up in a second. We also have Layla from Brandon on the phone. Stick with us here, 305-995-1800, radio at thefloridaroundup.org or 305-995-1800.

Your emails and phone calls about jobs and working in Florida coming up in just moments. This new state law about unions does not apply to private employer unions like the Service Employees International Union. Employees International Union. That organization has about 6,000 members here in Florida working at several major airports as private security guards and as office building janitors. Helene O'Brien is the union's state director. Helene, welcome to the Florida Roundup. Has this new state law in Florida that affects public unions affected any organizing efforts from your union? It affects everyone in Florida because there's going to be some smaller and fewer and some weaker unions. And so there's less power behind organizations and voices that advocate for workers' rights. There'll just be fewer loud voices. But the private sector workforce is regulated by the federal law, the National

Labor Relations Act, so we are not affected directly. One of the provisions of the state law stops the automatic deduction of union dues from worker paychecks. Does 32BJSCIU collect member dues through worker paychecks? Yes. If you work in Florida for a public employer, local governments say, you're still allowed to get deducted from your check, say a donation to the United Way, but somehow you're not allowed to get deducted from your check, your dues to your union. So it's a really bad and unfair and anti-worker law. Our union is funded by our members. We are 100 percent owned and accountable to the hardworking security officers, janitors and airport workers who pay for our union.

Accountability was cited by the supporters for this new law, communications between union leaders and members. It was one of the reasons given by supporters for this now law. How would you describe communications between yourself as a union leader and members of your organization, the workers? Yes. Well, you know, Florida is what's called a right to work. And we first add right to work for less state, which means that no worker, even if you're covered by a collective bargaining agreement, no worker has to actually pay dues to your union. So your union in Florida is already having to do a lot of individual outreach and communication

to make sure that workers are paying dues and part of the union. So that's accountability. What the state legislature did was put obstacle upon roadblock to the organizations of these public sector workers to be strong, to fight for their members. What percentage of your union workforce are paying dues in Florida? Well, our private sector tends to have higher membership dues payers because we negotiate directly, in particular, wages, benefits. We're almost like the human resource department, if you will, for these workers. Our average dues for our union is at 70%. Which is above the threshold set for public unions in this new law, which is 60% in

order to be certified. And what's the range of due expenses for a worker that belongs to the 32BJ SEIU union? You mean how much dues do workers pay? Yeah. How much do they pay? Yeah. Well, our members are low-wage workers, as I said, janitors and contracted security officers and airport workers. So our members pay between $16 a month and $34 a month, depending on whether they're part-time or full-time. The number of union members nationwide has increased slightly over the past year or so, but the proportion of union members continues shrinking. Why do you think that is? Well, the law, especially the private sector law, the National Labor Relations Act that was passed in the 30s, that does provide federal protection to workers who want to organize and advocate for better

wages, benefits, and working conditions. It's a good law, but it has been quietly and slowly whittled away over the ensuing decades in courts and through various legislation and through labor board decisions. Basically, employers have done a very effective job of making it harder and harder for workers to get together. It is hard to organize people. Anyone who's tried to, say, organize your community or your parent association at the school knows it's challenging. And then at work, it's challenging as well because people are human beings and caught up in a million things. And then you have the supervisor or your boss discouraging it. There's market forces at work as well in terms of pay and benefits. And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union benefits and pay have not increased as fast as non-union benefits and pay since the pandemic.

Has that discouraged union membership? No, basically, I mean, if you think about it, the market forces, you know, the push on inflation is maybe two years old. So initially employers have had to raise wages, sometimes dramatically, in order to recruit and retain workers, especially coming out of the pandemic. During those two years, if the union was in the middle of a contract, they weren't going to be negotiating wages. But as those contracts come up, those unions will be negotiating much better and more robust wage and benefit packages than a non-union workforce. I think if you look at, for example, you know, the UAW is heading into negotiating soon. And even before they've gotten to the table,

the employers or some employers, I believe Ford is offering a 9% pay increase. And that's just to start. And usually employers come in pretty low. So it's just the timing might be a little off, but the unions are going to make sure that the amount of pay increase that they get will be more suited to inflation, much higher. Plus, it'll protect full-time jobs where it's in the contract and benefits as well. UAW is the United Auto Workers Union that represents automakers of the three big automakers here in the United States. In fact, that union has said that it could go on strike against those three major U.S. automakers as soon as this month as they are negotiating with each of the three automakers at the same time. How could that kind of work action impact public opinions about unions? I think that the more attention that the public pays to the conversation and disagreements and ultimately resolutions between organized workers and their employers is a good thing. You know, many people don't realize that they have rights at work and watching what these auto workers negotiate,

which is not just wages, it's also what jobs are going to look like in the face of technological change. And that affects everybody. Same with the, I think with the Screen Actors Guild and, you know, when the Hollywood strikes, I mean, that is about artificial intelligence. Watching these organized, powerful workers in union negotiate with their employers, I think will embolden the public. Helene O'Brien is the Florida director for the Union 32BJ-SCIU Service Employees International Union. Helene, thanks so much. Thank you. Ed in Orange Park was wondering what the difference is between a public union and a private sector union. Ed, a public union

represents public sector employees, school teachers, public school teachers, firefighters, first responders, postal workers, police officers, state local government workers, where private unions represent employees of private companies. Let's hear from Layla in Brandon. She's been patient with us. Layla, you are on the radio. Go ahead. Yes, I just wanted to bring up a couple of thoughts on the employee situation in Florida. You stated that earlier that 59 percent of our workforce is eligible or working in the state of Florida that are of job age and skills, and that the national average is 61%.

So we do fall low on that, but yet we have one of the highest costs of inflation in the state, along with Miami, because of the rent increases and the rapid expansion of building. And I think Tom Brady was responsible for that. But that's everybody watching this example for a laugh. He can be responsible for a lot, but I don't think the Hall of Fame quarterback. Yeah, but we have a lot of wonderful things in Tampa. So people want to come here. They want to enjoy our hospitality and our

environment. A couple of things that I just thought about was that, you know, with the union representative, you know, we have number one in recidivism in our county in Hillsboro in Tampa, Florida. And our job training skills are lacking for our people coming out of prison and you know empowering those guys to get jobs so they don't repeat offend and go back into prison is a big part of our issues within our state but so people coming to Florida with the idea they're going to have a good job be able to afford to live here and it's not the case you know so it ends up that they're actually being paid less, in the case of people that I've talked to,

and they can't keep up with their apartment rent. And the other part is the elderly population are not being hired when there's a young person there applying for a cashier's position in most cases, and elderly are being really smacked with their limited income to pay for that apartment rent that keeps going up and up, and our 25% increase in PICO bills that line our utilities. Your utility electricity. Yeah, Layla, I appreciate all that perspective there.

And outside of Tampa, from Brandon, great to hear from you. Roger from Winter Park sent us this email saying that he returned to Florida in December of last year to be closer with his family. He wrote, for the last 15 years, he's lived in Atlanta. And he said, if not for my family, I would have never moved back. He cites housing costs, just like we heard from Layla, and the cost of goods so much higher than other places in America. And he says that wages, at least in his field of hospital maintenance, are not proportionally better than those other places by far. And finally, Roger finishes his email to us saying, I'm lucky to work in health care, so it's easy to find good employment,

but I wish I could have convinced my mother, sister, and her family to move to Atlanta. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. While Florida's population has been growing and the job market has been adding new jobs, the number of people working for the state government has been falling. In the past three years, the job market has grown by 15% statewide. The number of state government jobs has dropped by more than 5%. Emily Mahoney is the senior political writer at the Tampa Bay Times. Emily, welcome to the Florida Roundup.

What explains this pretty significant drop in the number of state workers, even as the state budget and the state population have grown? It's really interesting because, you know, on one hand, this happened across the country, right, across industries and across states. During the pandemic in particular, workers reassessed their jobs and left them in large numbers. Florida was no exception. What's interesting, though, about Florida's state government in particular was the rate at which that happened was so much higher than other state governments. Between February of 2020 and November of 2022, Florida lost nearly 7% of its government employees, and that's compared to an average loss of half a percentage point nationwide. So that's obviously multiples, multiples higher. What's behind that, you know, I talk to a lot of current and former state workers in the state of Florida

and in a variety of different agencies, and the number one thing they all cited as the number one factor was pay. one thing they all cited as the number one factor was pay. Governor DeSantis' office has talked about how he's tried to push for 5% raises for state workers. But, you know, the reality is that the pay continues to be a problem. Just to be clear, we're not talking about job cuts. These weren't job eliminations. These are jobs now that are being unfilled. They're vacant. Is that right? jobs now that are being unfilled. They're vacant. Is that right? That's correct. Yes. You know, one of the areas where this has been most obvious for years has been in our state prisons. We've had thousands of vacant jobs in prison guard positions for years, and it's gotten to the point where the state has relied on the Florida National Guard to sort of fill some of those gaps.

National Guard to sort of fill some of those gaps. How else have these job vacancies affected Florida residents? Yeah, that's a good question. It came up actually after Hurricane Ian, there was a home insurance hotline that had to reduce its hours to just three hours a day, which my colleague Lawrence Maurer did some great reporting on. And part of the reason for that was staff shortages. And that was even at a time when, you know, loads of homeowners needed to get a hold of this hotline who had been affected by Hurricane Ian. I've also heard anecdotes about people having trouble getting their food stamp applications approved, for example, going to their local state representatives about that. A state government job, not just in Florida, but across the nation, has normally been seen

as, you know, moderate paying, but very secure and a very good retirement program. Why does Florida seem to be an outlier with the number of now former state government employees? This is a multi-year problem where I think Florida has a philosophy of smaller government is better, and that means spending as little as possible. State officials are very proud of the fact that Florida has the lowest state worker to resident ratio in the country. They see that as an efficiency, but I think that that also perhaps put the state in a more vulnerable position when things like the pandemic happened and caused so many people to reassess their employment situation. Emily, thanks for sharing your reporting with us. Really appreciate it. Thanks. Thanks so much.

Still to come, county jails under scrutiny. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Thank you. We're back on the Florida Roundup. I'm Tom Hudson. Thanks for listening. Groundhog Day. That's how a judge described the situation within one of Florida's county jail systems. An incident away from a federal court order is how a different judge described problems in another county jail in the state. These two jail systems are in Miami-Dade and Duval counties. They're 300 miles apart, but both are struggling with conditions for inmates. So let's start in Miami. Last December, a federal judge said that if the

county's jails were not approved by this fall, there could be sanctions, including a takeover by the federal government. The Miami-Dade Corrections Department has been under the watchful eye of the Department of Justice for a decade now. The feds found too many inmates were dying while in county custody and jails were failing inmates with mental illnesses. Now a watchdog appointed by the court says Miami-Dade jails have turned things around. Josh Ceballos reports from our partner station in Miami, WLRN. When Ingrid Caputo was incarcerated in a Miami-Dade county jail, she said correction staff treated her and other inmates with mental illnesses like they were less than human. We're considered as animals.

Caputo is 57 and from Miami, and she struggles with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Over the last 27 years, she's served time in county jails for drug-related charges and solicitation. I want to be a part of society. I want to be part of society. I do. When she was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center near the Miami airport several years ago, she says she was forced to take medicine she didn't recognize, and no one would tell her what she was taking.

When the nurses had to give me my medication, and then it made me put my tongue like that and I had to actually take the medication and medication made me feel like weird you know. I would punch my legs I would punch my legs so they thought I was trying to harm myself so the guards would come in ratting you know tossing me and I'm trying to tell them you know I have pain I have pain and I'm trying to tell them, you know, I have pain, I have pain, but they didn't want to hear. Just hearing those stories, like, sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh, it's incredibly traumatic just to hear. I can't even imagine to experience. Catherine Beltress-Pastley is the deputy director of Beyond the Bars.

Her organization is an inmate advocacy group in Miami-Dade County that educates and lobbies for incarcerated people. And so, I mean, that's from then till now. It's been like almost a decade. Since 2013, Miami-Dade County has been under a legal agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice promising to improve how inmates are treated in jails, especially those with mental illnesses. Jails, unlike prisons, are meant to be short-term detention centers. A person can spend a few weeks or even up to several months in a Miami jail. And if that person has a mental health issue, they're supposed to get special care.

In the agreement with the federal government, called a consent decree, the county pledged to give inmates the basic level of care required by the U.S. Constitution. Inmates, advocates, and experts say Miami-Dade Corrections has struggled to make good on those promises that they made. But new leaders are hopeful that their reforms will make a difference. Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava welcomed new corrections director James Reyes at a county commission meeting in January. He has specialized experience dealing with some of our more pressing corrections challenges, including the care of individuals with mental illness. He also has great expertise in getting out from under a consent decree. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'm truly honored for this opportunity to serve this community. Reyes says he can turn things around. I was brought in as the change agent to lay the groundwork to what we're going to build on in order to be the best system we could be and ultimately a model nationwide. Ten years ago, the DOJ inspected Miami-Dade's jails and found major problems. Too many inmates were dying by suicide. Staff members weren't equipped to deal with inmates who have mental illnesses. And corrections officers were deliberately indifferent to inmate safety.

Jail systems need to meet the threshold of care laid out in the Constitution, which is shockingly low, according to Jonathan Smith. He's an attorney who used to work for the U.S. Department of Justice in their civil rights division. Was this person denied medical care? Was this person denied mental health care? Was this person not protected from harm in some other way? In December, a frustrated federal judge gave Miami-Dade County one last chance to get in line with the agreement by an October 31st deadline. Otherwise, there could be sanctions, even a takeover. And that's where the court will appoint its own officer to go in and supplant the warden of the jail and run the jail with the powers given to it by the court.

and supplant the warden of the jail and run the jail with the powers given to it by the court. Progress has been slow. That's according to Miami-Dade Correction's own data and self-assessments. An independent monitor who was appointed by the court to track the county's compliance resigned a year ago. In her final report, Susan McCampbell wrote, the county still hadn't done enough to fix the systemic cultural issues plaguing the jails. She declined to comment for this story. More inmates died in Miami-Dade jails last year than any other year during the decade that the county has been under federal monitoring. 18 inmates died in 2022,

five by suicide. New leaders argue those numbers will look better this year. There are some current initiatives underway trying to improve the training. Gary Rainey is a retired sheriff of Boise, Idaho, and now Miami-Dade's new compliance director, tasked with making sure the county meets the requirements of the federal consent decree. He says he's seen the culture change. Innovation wasn't welcomed. I mean, when I came here, I could see that there was just some stagnation of thought. And what I've certainly seen with Director Reyes and his leadership team now is the morale change

and the excitement change. Some people who have been through the jail system say they've seen a change under the new leadership. Flav Nickerson has been in and out of Miami-Dade jails for years, most recently in May, for drug-related charges. He deals with schizophrenia and paranoia. In past years, he says, Yeah, I seen, I seen correction, punch a guy, choke a guy, kick a guy. They'll drag you out in the hallway where there's no cameras, and they'll rough you up. They rough you up. But now, he says, some corrections officers are more attentive to mental health needs. But if things changed enough this year to satisfy the federal government, Rainey, the county's compliance director, says yes.

You can quote me on this. I believe that MDCR is in substantial compliance on all provisions today. At the end of October, we'll find out if the court agrees. I'm Joshua Ceballos in Miami. If you or someone you know is struggling, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24-7 help and support. You can call 988. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. As Miami-Dade jails await to find out if they can get out from under its federal oversight, the jail system in Duval County is under increasing scrutiny, including from two

state lawmakers calling for a Justice Department investigation after a sharp increase in the death rate of inmates. Nicole Manna is a reporter with the Tributary in Jacksonville. Nicole, thanks for joining us here on the Florida Roundup. Tell us about this increase that you found in inmate deaths in Duval County. When we looked at deaths that had been happening in the Duval County Jail or in custody of the Duval County Jail, meaning somebody either died in the jail, somebody died on the way to the hospital, somebody either died in the jail, somebody died on the way to the hospital, or somebody died in the hospital but had been held at the jail when they went through their medical episode. We found in 2017 when Armor Correctional Health Services took over medical care in the jail, those deaths tripled. Prior to 2017, from about 2010 to 2017, medical care was handled in-house,

meaning it was handled by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. We averaged four deaths a year for those years. In 2017 to now, we have averaged 13 deaths a year. What about the causes of death? There are 14 people who died of pre-existing conditions, nine people who died of COVID-19, three people who died of pneumonia, two people who died of seizures. There were eight suicides and then there were eight people who either overdosed or died in the midst of a withdrawal. You mentioned the private health care provider Armor Correctional Health Services taking over medical services for Duval County Jail in 2017. But as of this month, that's no longer the health care provider for inmates. Who is?

So right now it's NAFCARE that started on September 1st. They are a company that's very similar to Armour. What we have found in our reporting is that this company also has hundreds of lawsuits against them, millions of dollars worth of settlements. There's a special committee that's been convened by the city council in Jacksonville. What is its purpose? That special committee is actually looking at potentially moving the jail from downtown to a location away from downtown.

And is that to address these health care issues that you've identified? No, that is more so to address downtown. Is moving the jail going to revitalize downtown? Is it going to drive businesses and people there if that facility is no longer located there? But in that conversation of moving the jail, we have, of course, asked, is this going to help with the medical care of inmates? We've been told, yes, that this is the idea, is it's going to help with every aspect of the jail. Do we have actual details in how that's going to help medical care? No. Nicole Manna is a reporter with the Tributary in Jacksonville. Nicole, thanks for sharing your reporting.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Finally, in the roundup this week, in Keaton Beach, where Hurricane Idalia's eye made landfall as a Category 3 storm last week, the community was able to create some fun over Labor Day, squeezing in a fish fry among the cleanup work. From our partner station WFSU in Tallahassee, Regan McCarthy reports. On a typical holiday weekend, towels and umbrellas dot the sand along Keaton Beach. Kids splash in the surf, and some of the more industrious revelers might search for scallops. But this Labor Day weekend, palm fronds, seaweed, and mucky debris cover much of the shore, even coating the floor of the public bathroom. Beyond the rumble of generators, the beach itself

is mostly quiet. The thing called I dare you come up and I think kind of ruin the holiday weekend, I dare you come up and I think kind of ruin the holiday weekend. But, hey, we all here. We celebrating it. Down the block from the beach, Shannon Millinore is organizing a neighborhood fish fry. He's cooking up snapper, grouper, hogfish. There's a pallet of water, coolers with cold beer, and plenty of sides. Millinore says after days of neighbors helping neighbors, it's time for a bit of fun. Everybody's been cleaning up the trash and debris from their houses,

and we decided for the community around here at Keaton Beach that we would have a fish fry. Millenor says his house suffered a small amount of damage and quite a bit of mud. Others took a harder hit, but overall he says many expected the damage at the beach to be worse. Everybody down here is pitched in and trying to do stuff for people when they can, and that's what makes stuff happen. I'm Regan McCarthy in Keaton Beach. And that's our program this week. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and your Florida Public Radio stations. Katie Munoz produced the program.

WLRN's Vice President of Radio and our Technical Director is Peter Mayers. Engineering help from Doug Peterson and Charles Michaels. Richard Ives answers the phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at aaronleibos.com. Thanks for emailing, calling, listening, and supporting public radio. I'm Tom Hudson. Have a great weekend.