Alachua County

College kids are making the city look bad.

According to statistics released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau, Gainesville's income gap was the fifth-largest in the nation from 2005 to 2009. Atlanta tops the list, followed by New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; and Miami. The city with the lowest income gap is West Jordan, Utah.

The city of Gainesville had the fifth-widest income gap in the country from 2005-09, a United States Census Bureau American Community Survey report released this month says.

David Denslow, a research economist at the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, attributed the high level of income inequality to two factors — a relatively small city with a large university and medical complex, and the poverty rate and lack of jobs in east Gainesville.

Through a series of annexations and natural growth, Gainesville's population increased by 20 percent over the past decade while the median household income dropped by the same amount, well above the national decline of about 5 percent, according to data the Census Bureau released last week.

Gainesville's ranks of the unemployed swelled nearly a percentage point in June to 8.4 percent, the biggest increase in a year, according to Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation. In May the rate was 7.6 percent.

The steep increase was counter to Florida's overall report, which saw the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment figure dip to 11.4 percent last month, down from 11.7 percent in May.

The following represent city-, county-, and regional-level news stories around the state relating to the BEBR Population Program's recent release of the April 1, 2009 preliminary population estimates.

Brevard's population dipped last year - Florida Today - August 24, 2009
UF: Polk Is Losing People - The Ledger - August 22, 2009

Public school enrollment numbers will continue to dip statewide and in Alachua County during the 2009-10 school year, according to the latest state numbers.

Projections released earlier in June showed Alachua County's enrollment - including charter schools - dropping for the third straight school year.The projected enrollment is 26,900 students - down about 1.5 percent from 27,293 students during the 2008-09 school year. Since the 2006-07 school year, Alachua County's enrollment is down 1,344 students, or almost 5 percent.

Enrollment in public schools is on the decline statewide, and the trend is even more pronounced in Alachua County.

From 2007-08 to this school year, statewide student enrollment numbers dropped by nearly 25,000 to 2,620,801, Florida Department of Education numbers show.

That's the lowest number since 2004.

Stan Smith, director of the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said factors in the statewide enrollment reduction include a decline in the state's birthrate throughout the first half of the 1990s.

A University of Florida economist said the reason many Americans are financially strapped is simple: Prices are rising and wages are not.

David Denslow, who works for UF's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said that overall, the retail price index has increased in the past five years about 2 percent to 2.5 percent. This index indicates what people pay for food, housing, medical care and other goods and services.

He said that during the 1990s, prices rose about the same, but pay was keeping up. These days, it's a different story.

In a darkened classroom at Gainesville High, nearly 30 students sit at computer screens as teacher Tony Malo explains how to grab a picture from the Internet and post it to a Web page.

This is an introductory Web design class and, after this rudimentary exercise, the students will move on to designing Web pages and creating graphics and logos.

"I want to get these kids marketable," Malo said. "I want to show them skills that they can use to go out and make money."