New Florida Chamber Foundation Research Project Unveils First-of-its-Kind Workforce Needs Study and Skills Gap Analysis
Comprehensive report identifying top career areas showing growth and high wage opportunities as Florida builds America’s #1 workforce
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (June 29, 2021)— As the Florida Chamber Foundation works to achieve the goals outlined in its Florida 2030 Blueprint and grow from the 17th to the 10th largest economy in the world by 2030, Florida’s workforce needs to continue evolving to meet the needs of the future of Florida and its job creators. To help Florida job creators, educators, lawmakers, job seekers, students and residents forge a path forward to creating the workforce of the future, the Florida Chamber Foundation has unveiled the Florida Workforce Needs Study – a first-of-its-kind state analysis addressing skills gaps and opportunities that exist in the Florida workplace. The results provide a comprehensive look at the skills Floridians need to possess in order to have upward or even lateral mobility in over-skilled occupations, and potentially transition to in-demand occupations that have more demand than supply and higher wages.
“Florida’s workforce is facing a crisis. Although Florida remained open for business throughout the pandemic, Florida currently has 512,900 open jobs looking for people to fill them and only 503,000 people actively looking for work,” said Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson. “Addressing the current workforce crisis by reimagining the existing workforce and preparing a strong future workforce by providing a roadmap for building, upskilling and reskilling Florida’s talent pipeline is essential to help us grow to a top 10 global economy.”
Florida employers need to create approximately 2 million new jobs by 2030, and by focusing on the current and future job skills, Florida can have another economic development advantage.
Florida has set a goal to have America’s #1 workforce. The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Workforce Needs Study identifies four of the in-demand career areas, the skills by employers, and the transition opportunities that will align Florida’s workforce supply with employer demand. Key Florida Workforce Needs Study findings include:
- Four of the career areas that are expected to be undersupplied with talent include Healthcare, Business/Finance, IT/Math, and Architecture/Engineering. Those career areas offer many of the highest wages to Florida workers.
- The volume of undersupply gaps between employer demand and workforce supply are large enough to have a dramatic effect on Florida employment.
- Many pathways exist from oversupplied, lower-wage career areas to undersupplied high-wage career areas.
“Florida’s current and future workforce has the opportunity to obtain the skills needed to join top career areas that are on a growth trajectory and provide high wages,” said Florida Chamber Foundation Chief Economist Dr. Jerry Parrish. “Results shows many Florida careers are oversupplied while many others are undersupplied, and workers in those oversupplied areas may need only one or a few additional skills to transition to undersupplied career areas with high wages—something especially important to know for adult workers.”
“It is our hope the Florida business community and education system will collaboratively leverage the Florida Workforce Needs Study to align education and training curriculum to career opportunities and industry needs as much as possible to give Florida’s current and future talent, and job creators alike, the best opportunity to succeed,” added Wilson.
The Florida Chamber Foundation thanks its local chamber federation and key industry trade association partners for engaging over 1,100 Florida employers in its research.
To view results of the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida Workforce Needs Study, visit www.FLChamber.com/FloridaWorkforceNeedsStudy.
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About the Florida Chamber Foundation
The Florida Chamber Foundation is a statewide, business-led, non-partisan research and future-oriented leadership group working in partnership with regional and state leaders to secure Florida’s future. To ensure global competitiveness, prosperity, high paying jobs and vibrant and resilient communities for all Floridians, the Florida Chamber Foundation places the long-term ahead of the short term by uniting the Florida business community for good to develop strategies around six key factors, the Florida 2030 Blueprint Six Pillars of Florida’s Future Economy: improving Florida’s talent pipeline for a better workforce, creating good jobs by diversifying Florida’s economy, preparing Florida’s infrastructure for smart growth and development, building the perfect climate for business, making government and civics more efficient and effective, and championing Florida’s quality of life.
The Florida Chamber Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Contributions are deductible as charitable gifts for federal income tax. To learn more about the Florida Chamber Foundation, visit www.FLFoundation.org.