TALLAHASSEE - Since World War II, Florida has beckoned retirees looking to spend their golden years in the sun. The steady stream has made Florida's population the oldest in the nation.

Now, Florida is headed for an even grayer future in the Baby Boomer retirement era, state economists and demographers predict. The consequences: worker shortages and severe strains on public pensions and government services.

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

After 21 years at the same Fort Lauderdale boat company, Robert Mulder lost his job. Mulder was laid off in November along with dozens of his co-workers, and now they face a job market that's expected to get worse.

Mass layoffs are putting more people like Mulder out of work. The U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday that 238,000 people lost their jobs in mass layoffs nationwide in January, a 60 percent increase from January 2007.

The layoffs, which the Labor Department says affected 19,301 Floridians in January, cut across industries and geography.