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May 2007
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Why
the focus on higher-skilled employment?
By
Phil Ehlinger
Director Volusia County Department of Economic
Development
The
Volusia County Council in 2002 approved its first countywide
Economic Development Strategic Plan. The plan is based on a
diversified approach to creating higher-waged employment
opportunities.
Annually, Volusia County attracts more than 28,000 new
residents. Many of these newcomers replace people moving
away, but the net gain in population continues to grow the
need for new employment opportunities.
The true test of a strong community is to have a healthy,
vibrant marketplace that encourages growth in a variety of
employment sectors and not to be overly dependent on only a
few. Over emphasis on any one employment sector can
challenge a community’s ability to provide adequate
positions for new workers or to be able to afford the
infrastructure necessary to support itself. Volusia’s
economy is becoming more diversified and less dependent upon
tourism and the service sector that for decades drove the
local economy. |
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Richard
Michael |
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When new jobs are created at higher wages they generally are filled
by workers new to the market or that are employed by other local
employers. These workers bring their skills to their new position as
they vacate the previous position.
The vertical movement of a single individual into a new
higher-skilled position opens an existing job for another worker to
be able to move up in skill and wage. Many of the jobs that are
being created by the employers the County Department of Economic
Development has worked with during the past five years have been in
the higherskilled, higher-wage category. Many of these positions are
averaging more than $40,000 in annual salary and have opened
employment opportunities indirectly throughout the community for as
many as five or six other workers in various wage levels. This
includes those entering the workforce for the first time and lacking
skills.
Higher-waged jobs create higher levels of spendable income for
workers and this in turn creates other jobs in the services, retail,
healthcare and professional services sectors. Volusia County has a
$15 billion economy, about half of which is generated from earned
wages.
In the past five years, Volusia’s workforce has grown by more than
30,000 jobs and now exceeds 250,000 workers. Average annual wages
have grown from $24,000 in 2002 to about $31,000 today. The
improvement in overall wages is due to the growing health of the
local economy through a continued diversification of the workforce.
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Department of Economic Development
700 Catalina Drive, Suite 200,
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Telephone: 386-248-8048
FAX: 386 238-4761 Toll Free: 800-554-3801
Phil Ehlinger
Director
doed@volusia.org |
