Job Growth: Who’s working on it? (2003)
This forum examined current and past job growth initiatives, explored the role of the public and private partners involved and identified priorities for Jacksonville’s future job growth strategy.
Key Findings:--Jacksonville’s job growth partners, both public and private, effectively capitalize on Jacksonville’s assets and pro-business environment to bring in new businesses. While Florida is ranked 5th in the nation as a destination for new, relocating, and expanding businesses, Jacksonville is currently ranked number one for new businesses and relocation.
--However, 80 percent of all new jobs in Jacksonville are produced by existing businesses. These businesses do not receive the same attention, support, and services by the local public and private partners as new or relocating businesses. In addition, existing businesses often do not know of the available services or how to access existing service providers.
--While resource speakers defined a “good” job as one paying an annual salary of at least $35,000 with benefits, Jacksonville’s Median Family Income is below that at $33,303. Jacksonville’s workforce lacks a sufficient number of educated and skilled workers needed to attract and sustain higher paying jobs. Employers reported that many applicants lacked even basic comprehension and communication skills for entry-level positions.
--In addition to workforce education and training needs, resource speakers identified gaps between educational institutions (secondary and post-secondary) with the workforce needs of our community. Few partnerships exist between local businesses and the Duval County public school system to address current and future workforce shortages for “in-need” industries, such as healthcare and trades.
Resource Speakers: Nancy Boyle, Small Business Resource Network; Henry Brown, Miller Electric Company; Lad Daniels, First Coast Manufacturing Association; Bruce Ferguson, WorkSource; Carrie Goudy, Cendant Mortgage; Mike Israel, ATS Professional Services; Juliet Kaufman, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce; Jerry Mallot, Cornerstone; Candace Moody, WorkSource; Karl Pelletier, BearingPoint; Mayor John Peyton, The City of Jacksonville; Declan Reiley, Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce; Al Rossiter, Enterprise North Florida Center; Kirk Wendland, Jacksonville Economic Development Commission; Helen Werking, Lutheran Social Services
It is interesting that the forum revealed that considerable effort and resources have been devoted to luring businesses/industries from outside the region, yet business relocations yield only 20% of the new jobs in the region. This raises questions about the effectiveness of the marketing campaign and/or characteristics of the region that are unappealing. One of the more obvious answers to such questions emerges later in the excerpt when it covers the prevailing perception of the education level and learning capacity of the regional populace.
ReplyDeleteIf 80% of the new jobs in the region emerge from within, then why isn’t more effort devoted to generating jobs through existing businesses and/or facilitating the start of new businesses or industries? It seems sensible to refocus efforts on facilitating internal business generation through start-ups and expansion of existing business. Not only would this yield much needed job opportunities, it would create an environment that will appeal to businesses outside the region.
When one reads the list of forum contributors, it is noteworthy that none are regional educators (i.e., secondary or post-secondary). There needs to be an open and frequent dialog between governmental, business/industry, and educational leaders before the needs of these factions meet and work in concert.