College Graduates Enter An Ever-Shrinking South Florida Job Market

May 19, 2009 4:20 a.m. EST

Miami, FL (AHN) - The latest figures to come out of Florida put the state at almost 10 percent unemployment, or about 893,000 people out of work.

Miami-Dade County's unemployment rate is almost 8 percent, which paints a pretty grim picture for recent college graduates entering the workforce.

"Because of the economic crisis, the job situation is pretty scarce," said Patrick Boudeau, who recently graduated from Miami-Dade College with a construction engineering degree. Boudeau, 41 is one of many recent Miami-Dade College grads competing for in the ever-shrinking south Florida job market.

Boudeau went back to school after being laid off from a job in construction a couple of years ago. After the housing market went bust in the state, about 112,300 people in construction lost their jobs here, according to the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation.

"Since last year, many people in construction were laid off, including myself," Boudeau said.

But it's not just what to do when graduating college that worries some student. It's also what to do to support themselves while in school.

Irene Fernandez, 21, recently started school at Miami-Dade College. She plans to earn a degree in communications, with the hope of becoming a television journalist. She also eventually wants to go back to school to get a law degree.

The problem is, Fernandez was laid off from her good-paying job as an executive assistant in February and hasn't been able to find a job in any field. She said she's applied for other executive assistant jobs and jobs in retail, but to no avail.

She collects $500 a month in unemployment benefits, but that doesn't go far enough.

"I'm lucky right now that I don't have any major expenses, so it's not a crisis yet, but I'm going to have to find something soon," Fernandez said.

But the situation is not all doom and gloom for some students, particularly in the medical field. South Florida, like many areas nationwide, is experiencing a serious nursing shortage, which has made finding a job easier for people like recent-nursing school graduate Jose Portales.

Portales, 30, graduated on May 2, and already landed a job with Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He earned a scholarship to Miami-Dade College through the Jackson Scholarship program. Upon graduation, he was guaranteed a position with one of Jackson's hospitals as a registered nurse.

Portales said he wants to start his career as an emergency room or intensive care nurse, and eventually become a certified nurse anesthetist.

"No matter how bad the economy is, people are always going to need nurses and doctors," Portales said.