Found and Lost

Found Money

What is Miami-Dade getting in return for public-money incentives to private businesses? Very little, according to a report by Florida International University.

Based on data from the Office of Community and Economic Development, FIU researchers studied the “number and quality” of jobs created through incentive programs. The study found that 41% of the jobs created in Enterprise Zones paid less than $25,200 annually. What’s more, over the past 10 years, companies that received a portion of the tax rebates in Enterprise Zones were not even required to hire residents from those low-income communities.

“A lot of businesses treat these incentives like found money,” says Bruce Nissen. Florida Trend

Lost Jobs

South Florida has slipped out of the top 10 in a ranking of the nation's hottest job markets.

The region ranked 10th in an analysis by Bizjournals.com in mid-2006, but dropped to 16th in the latest analysis of mid-year 2007 employment statistics. South Florida Business Journal

It's not even about jobs

Getting back to those "EZ Subsidies," here's an interesting finding:

"the Targeted Jobs Incentive Fund (TJIF) is not sharply targeted on jobs, but is at least as much focused on real estate investment."

That's on p. 23 of the full FIU report here.