State has 8 of 15 top employment centers in nation.
Orlando Business Journal - March 10, 2006by Chris KauffmannStaff Writer

Florida may not have the fountain of youth, but it certainly is a fountain of jobs.

Witness that eight of the top 15 best-performing metropolitan areas in the country in terms of creating and sustaining new jobs -- including Orlando -- are in Florida, a new study by the California-based Milken Institute shows.

No other state has more than two entries on that list.

Moreover, a dozen Florida metropolitan areas made the top 30 on the list of 200 largest metropolitan areas. That's more than double Florida's nearest competitor, California, which has five on the list, mostly fairly far down.

Not only does Florida own the top spot -- Melbourne/Palm Bay/Titusville -- it also claims second (Fort Myers/Cape Coral), third (Naples/Marco Island), fifth (Daytona/Ormond Beach/Deltona) and sixth (Orlando/Kissimmee). Only McAllen, Texas, in fourth place busts up that run.

"There are some similar aspects to all these communities," says Lisa Nason, Enterprise Florida spokeswoman. "There is a robust economy in a couple of key areas -- tourism is a key driver as well as professional services. We view this as yet another external validation of the strength of the Florida economy and, therefore, the strength of our strategic plan to develop the economy."

The economy has improved so much in the past year that four more communities made the top 30, compared with the eight on the 2004 list.

In 2003, by contrast, there were only six Florida communities in the top 30 and two (Fort Myers and West Palm Beach) in the top 15.

California's downturn In a reversal of fortune, in 2003 California had four communities in the top 15 and 10 in the top 30. It currently has one in the top 15 (Riverside/San Bernardino) and five in the top 30. That includes San Diego, which owned the top spot in 2002, in the 29th position.

Both Orlando and Melbourne made significant strides in the past year. Orlando jumped from 29th place to sixth, while Melbourne claimed the top spot after placing 31st last year.

"I knew we were doing well, but this is a pleasant surprise," says Lynda Weatherman, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast in Rockledge. "Brevard County has always been business-driven, but we don't want to rest on those laurels."

Although the Milken study bases its rankings on total job creation, it does single out high-tech jobs for weighted consideration.

In fact, Skip Rimer, director of communications for the Milken Institute, says that was what propelled Melbourne past Fort Myers into the top position. Melbourne ranked 13th for the importance of high-tech to its economy, while Fort Myers ranked 156th.

"We've always had a high-tech base, but in the last couple of years, it's really grown because of Harris (Corp.) and DRS (electronic and tactical divisions)," Weatherman says. "They have been very successful in getting contracts. We also have a lot of smaller companies that survived the tech downturn in 2000 that are now doing very well."

However, of the dozen communities in the top 30, only Melbourne and Tampa/St. Petersburg scored above the national average in terms of the weighted high-tech points.

Rimer says this means these communities are probably creating more service- sector jobs than high-tech jobs, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily low-pay, low-skills jobs. Because of the type of state Florida is with its large retiree population, a lot of those positions are in professional services such as banking and health care, he adds.

'Seeing strides' but worries linger Although the Orlando metro area scored just below the national average, local economic development officials took solace in the fact the score showed marked improvement over the previous two years.

"No one has ever said this is where we want to be, should be and that we're content, but we are seeing strides being made in that area," says Maureen Brockman, vice president of marketing for the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission.

Rob Wight, president and chief executive officer for Channel Intelligence, a data interchange services company in Celebration, says that, overall, the report is a "remarkable testimony to the future of Florida."

In the high-tech segment, though, he notes "the opportunities we have exceed the talent we have" and that a "manic focus" needs to be placed on driving high-tech in Florida.

This effort, Wight says, can't simply be left to the economic development commission or Enterprise Florida because they can't do it alone. It's up to businesses to help promote Florida and Orlando as a high-tech hub.

"If we set our mind to it, in the next 10 years, we could become the high-tech capital of the world," Wight says.