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Fishkind Conversations: Why Does Central FL Have Both High Poverty Rates And High Job Growth?

90.7's economic analyst Dr. Hank Fishkind, President of Fishkind and Associates
90.7's economic analyst Dr. Hank Fishkind, President of Fishkind and Associates

There are now about 350,000 people in central Florida living in poverty. The local poverty rate of 16.2 percent is just above the national average, and it has jumped nearly five percent since 2009 – the depths of the Great Recession.

90.7’s economic analyst Hank Fishkind says the high poverty rates were unexpected given the area’s booming job growth, and he explores with 90.7's Nicole Creston the possible factors behind the numbers.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined Central Florida Public Media in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.