Blake Dowling
According to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida added another 11,700 jobs last month.
Our state is the third-largest in the nation; it’s estimated that 26 million people will call Florida home soon.
What does that mean to you and me?
I would guess long lines at Disney World and lots of talent are needed to keep our economy performing at a high level. The Chamber has a plan called the Florida 2030 Blueprint, and the goal is to make sure we are all ready for this surge.
I checked in with The Chamber team directly to gather some additional information.
“Talent is quickly replacing the tax incentive as the economic development tool of choice. As we continue navigating the workforce crisis, identifying existing skills gap and working to build America’s BEST workforce, the Florida Chamber Foundation has launched the Florida Workforce Needs Survey 2.0 — Part One to gather insights and perspectives from business, HR leaders, hiring managers and others,” said Mark Wilson, The Chamber’s president and CEO. “According to the FloridaScorecard.org, Florida needs to add 1.63 million net new jobs by 2030 to keep up with current workforce demand and to prepare for the 4 million more people who will call Florida home. Help us literally set the direction for Florida’s workforce needs and future talent pipeline solutions by participating in this incredibly important research.”
I encourage anyone reading this who is currently hiring to dive into this information; kudos to The Chamber for being on the front lines of this effort.
Florida is certainly not a stranger to being a significant generator of jobs. Did you see job numbers for the United States in November of last year? Our nation added 210,000 jobs that month; guess where over 50,000 of those jobs were? Right here in Florida. According to NBC2, in southwest Florida, our state, which makes up 6% of the country’s population, accounted for 25% of new jobs during that time.
As we look around the state of Florida, the job site Indeed shows 513,379 jobs currently available today. That is a lot of jobs. Is your organization hiring? Are traditional job sites like Indeed, Monster, Career Builder getting you the same results? Have you brought in a recruiter to simplify the process? Have you partnered with local educational institutions to build a pipeline of talent? Have you checked in with the Florida Chamber or local Chamber of Commerce in your area to see what resources are available ( info from the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce)?
What are you doing to prepare your organization for today’s growth as well as that of tomorrow?
Now is the time if you have not sharpened the blade on these processes. As we all know, the workforce (don’t forget to vet for soft skills as we discuss on WFSU) looks very different from it did two years ago.
If you had told me four years ago that we would be running our business in Tallahassee with (5) staff members at HQ for most of 2020 while all others were remote, I wouldn’t have believed you.
However, that’s exactly how it went down, and a lot of those team members are still able to work remotely today because it was efficient for all parties and a nice perk to be able to offer to staff.
The next few years will not all be roses and growth; we will have barriers to success (like always).
Inflation, increased costs of raw materials, supply chain issues, housing, etc., but I see no reason why we as a state will not bulldoze these obstacles.
Check out some thoughts from University of Central Florida Economist Dr. Sean Snaith via Fox13/Tampa Bay for more insights on the year’s economic trends.
Bottom line, Florida is a trendsetter, a technological innovator, an economic powerhouse, and a leader in the nation regarding all things jobs.
Cheers to that, ladies and gents, as it certainly beats the alternative.
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Blake Dowling is CEO of Aegis Business Technologies and the author of the book Professionally Distanced; he also hosts the Biz & Tech podcast and writes for several publications. Blake can be reached at [email protected].
