Testimony on Florida Jobs 2030

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ON:            Florida Jobs 2030

TO:             House Post-Secondary Education Subcommittee

BY:             Jerry Parrish, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Florida Chamber Foundation

DATE:       October 11, 2017

Good afternoon Madam Chairman and members of the committee.  I am Dr. Jerry Parrish – I am the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the Florida Chamber Foundation.

Today I’ve been asked to discuss our recent report called Florida Jobs 2030.  This report is available to everyone for free – at www.theFloridaChamber.com

Before I do that I want to remind the Committee that we have online The Florida Scorecard.

On it we track the metrics that are important to Florida’s Future.  We have data at the State level as you see here, and we have it for every county in Florida.  There are hundreds of thousands of data points available for use by everyone – all of it is Free to use.   Because we believe that we can track Florida’s progress through the use of the right metrics.

For each of Florida’s 6 Pillars there is additional data.  Here you see the metrics for our Talent Supply and Education pillar.  You may notice the color scheme – if it’s green it means we’re going in the right direction.  Red means we’re not – and the light blue means we had no change.

The Florida Chamber Foundation has been doing research a long time.  In the nearly 49 year history of the Chamber Foundation, we have produced many research reports that have led to good policy actions by the Florida Legislature.

Our latest report is called Florida Jobs 2030.

The Chamber Foundation is thankful for the support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for this project.

In this report, more than 90 stakeholders from all areas of Florida were interviewed.

Included:

1. Private-sector companies, both large and small businesses
2. Professionals involved in career training and development
3. State college, and state university leaders
4. Economic Development Professionals
5. Non-profit leaders
6. Many local chambers of commerce
7. Foundations who work in this field
8. Association partners of the Chamber Foundation

Results from these hundreds of hours of interviews were combined with quantitative data on the number of jobs available in categories chosen for their growth potential in this state and their ability to provide high-wage jobs and career options for Florida families.

In the report, we detail the 5 Target Industries that we expect to grow the most, and produce the most high-wage jobs for Florida between now and the year 2030.  These categories include:

1. Aerospace and Aviation
2. Health Care & Life Sciences
3. Manufacturing
4. Finance and Professional Services
5. Logistics & Distribution

For each of these industries, we note the entry-level, middle-skill, and high-skill jobs available in the career lattice – and what qualifications someone would need to get these differing skill jobs.  This one for Aerospace and Aviation shows potential paths of how someone could get into the industry and progress as they obtain higher skills.

This slide shows the Logistics and Distribution Cluster – and you may remember that with the Chamber Foundation’s Trade & Logistics Studies – both 1 and 2 – this is something we have been doing research on for a long time.

For each of the 5 target industries, we show the specific jobs, their current employment, expected growth, median wage and the education required for an entry-level position.

This slide shows the 2 industry clusters expected to grow the fastest in the upcoming years.  As in the other 3, the report provides detailed job projections, the entry, middle- and high-skill jobs that are expected to grow as well as the salaries that are possible.

You know, people often ask me how our research is being used.  I am pleased to say that we not only has CareerSource Florida been using our research, we also have Florida’s State College System using our report to align their curriculum to what Florida needs to secure its future.  Just last week the Florida College System hosted a 2-day convening of leadership teams from all of its 28 colleges that I participated in – along with economists from Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity and CareerSource Florida.  In it the college leadership team reviewed how their College was meeting the talent needs of local businesses in these 5 target industries.  This will align Florida’s talent supply with the expected growth in these industries that diversify Florida’s economy and create high-wage jobs.

I would like to take this time to remind the Committee that this report is part of the Florida Chamber Foundation’s Florida 2030 Project. 

Our organization has visited all 67 counties in Florida and discussed Florida’s future with more than 10,000 people for the Florida 2030 project, developing a strategic plan for our state – discussing Florida’s future and what we need to do to prepare.  You will see that report around March 2018.

Finally – I want to let you know that the Florida Chamber Foundation partnered with the U.S. Chamber on a website called Launch My Career.  We help a press conference at our Future of Florida Forum.  It is a website that people can go to and get information on potential careers, what the demand is expected to be and what the pay is.  You can find that website at www.LaunchMyCareerFL.org

Thank you Madam Chairman and the Committee for allowing me to present today – I will be glad to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you.