Norman Taylor

Job growth is Job #1 for economic developers. That mantra holds whether our economy is booming or sputtering. Our role is to help create new opportunities for employment for our local residents by engineering new business development. So when helping to nurse a local economy back to health, we rely on the predictions of economists, our allied professionals, who provide a much needed view into the future of our economies from various perspectives.

 Here is what two of Florida’s top economists are saying in early January 2011, according to the Sun-Sentinel:

We should not expect a quick recovery because “Coming out of this unemployment hole is going to take awhile.” – Tony Villamil, Dean and Research Professor of Economics, School of Business, St. Thomas University.

We should expect significant job growth in Florida during the last quarter of 2011 or early 2012. Look for business and professional jobs to lead the way, but also look for more manufacturing jobs because exports to Brazil and other trading partners that have healthier economies. – Sean Snaith, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Economic Competitiveness, University of Central Florida.

There are signs suggesting that there may be a slow decline in unemployment during 2011, but “Growth is starting to return [since] we now have had five months of job growth.” – Amy Baker, senior economist, Office of Economic & Demographic Research.

Key strategies for the Broward County Office of Economic & Small Business Development include growing jobs via foreign trade; continuing to focus on small business growth; helping to engineer the expansion targeted industry clusters; and leveraging the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County brand via tourism and visitor marketing efforts. To that end, Broward County’s economic engines all play major roles in the return of Broward’s economy to a state of health and vitality.

Sincerely,

Norman E. Taylor

Director, Office of Economic & Small Business Development

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