© 2024 90.7 WMFE. All Rights Reserved.
Public Media News for Central Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Orlando Economic Partnership report shows jobs are available in the City Beautiful

Pexels

If you’re looking for a job in Orlando, there’s likely one out there for you, according to a recent study by the Orlando Economic Partnership looking at the job market last year. CEO Tim Giuliani breaks down the report and explains what it means for people in the City Beautiful.

Listen to the full conversation in the player above.

Tim Giuliani is the CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership.
Orlando Economic Partnership
/
OEP
Tim Giuliani is the CEO of the Orlando Economic Partnership.

State of the job market

Orlando created over 77,000 new jobs in 2022, making it the second fastest growing city in the country.

That’s according to a new report by the Orlando Economic Partnership looking at the job market over the last year.

Giuliani said we’re just behind Austin, Texas in the percentage of new jobs created in 2022.

"Although there's actually more jobs created in Orlando than Austin last year."

Employment in Florida grew 4.2% compared to4.6% in Orlando, according to Giuliani.

"When you look at the labor force growth, so that's the people that are are in the workforce looking for work. Orlando is growing the labor force at 2.4% and Miami is at 0.5%," he adds.

According to the Orlando Economic Partnership's report, the Leisure and Hospitality sector lead the region accounting for 20% of employment.

Giuliani said that industry added 44% of jobs over the last year.

He said majority of other industry sectors, except for construction, are above pre-pandemic levels.

What is contributing to the job growth in Orlando?

Giuliani said the reasons range from population growth to the number of job postings.

"We can attribute a lot to in-migration. So, people that are moving here from somewhere else and then joining the labor force. They're not coming here to retire. Even when you look at the postings now for jobs compared to before the pandemic, for tech jobs in the Orlando region, they're consistent with where they were before the pandemic."

He adds that job postings across the board are slightly above pre pandemic levels.

"We've seen just the tiniest bit of tightening over the last month or two. But overall, we're doing better than we were even before the pandemic when the economy was hot then."

The Orlando Economic Partnership surveyed some business owners in the area and found that 52% of respondents have added staff in the last six months.

"And about the same percentage or slightly more expect to add staff in the next six months. So I think overall, we feel this concern about the national economy and financial markets. But when you come close to home, when you ask the companies about their own prospects and about their own hiring, they're rather optimistic."

Job market and you

If you want a job, there should be one out there for you, according to Giuliani.

"There's lots of opportunities available. But at the same time now, which is different from 2022, there's marginally more people looking for jobs than jobs looking for people."

He said that's having a slight cooling effect on the local labor market.

"When I say it's slightly cooling, we still may end up one or two, but there's just a slightest bit that we see in the data that indicates maybe it's just a click slower than it's been."

With the possibility of a recession still looming, Giuliani said the Orlando economy will be more resilient despite national expectations.

"Because we're so far ahead in hiring, and the pace of growth and in-migration that we're experiencing here in Central Florida, that growth should insulate us, should the rest of the country for financial reasons, see a little bit of a recession."

After a brief stint as Morning Edition Producer at The Public’s Radio in in Rhode Island, Talia Blake returned to WMFE, the station that grew her love for public radio. She graduated with a double-major in Broadcast Journalism and Psychology from the University of Central Florida (Go Knights!). While at UCF, she was an intern for WMFE’s public affairs show, Intersection. In her spare time, Talia is an avid foodie and enjoys working out.
Related Content