Orlando economy can flourish with focus on qualified workforce to meet market demands

With a few clicks of a mouse, Melleah Hook became ordained and prepared to officiate a

wedding that had been pushed back by Hurricane Matthew.

Hook said she often finds herself in many similar and peculiar situations while working in

concierge services at the Doubletree by Hilton Orlando Downtown hotel.

Hook has lived and worked in downtown Orlando for the past two years and has witnessed the

alternating flow of money through the construction, hospitality and leisure industries. Hook saw

the highest numbers in revenue this year, compared to the past five years, for the Hilton.

Thanks to Mayor Buddy Dyer with all of the athletic events he advocates for, a whole new

group of people and economy are now brought to Orlando, Hook said. With the Citrus Bowl

and Orlando City Soccer games, there are now hundreds of Spanish people out on Wall Street

spending money while celebrating soccer. We did not have this since the World Cup a few years

ago.

Hook, 37, had an annual salary of $70,000 and health benefits at the Hilton. Recently, she was

promoted to senior director of Hilton Grand Vacation with an estimated annual salary of $95,000

to $110,000 with bonuses, incentives and health benefits.

Hook is one of many Orlando residents who experienced the upsurge of currently operating and

newly developing construction, hospitality and leisure businesses this year. Construction, the

largest increase of job markets, grew 17 percent and the largest area of employment, leisure and

hospitality, grew 4 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The price of rent is also an increasing factor, said Clayton Russell Slappey, the CEO of

Nperspective, LLC financial services firm providing chief financial officer support and

outsourcing services to clients in Florida.

This a huge issue because that means the housing markets are picking back up, Slappey said.

Real estate is a big part of Florida, so when the housing market goes up, everything goes up.

However, although the home builders are starting to rebuild in Orlando, it is not at the pace

before the 2008 recession, Slappey said. The biggest problem is the lack of qualified construction

workers to keep up with the growing real estate market.

During the recession, all of the workers were laid off, Slappey said. They then reemployed

themselves into other lines of business. Now, the construction businesses are unable to keep up

with their contracts because they do not have the right people which slows down our

economy.

There is also a big information technology workforce in Orlando that cannot flourish because of

that same reason, Slappey said.

The unemployment rate for Central Florida is 4.4 percent, down 0.7 percentage points from the

same period last year. The unemployment rate has considerable potential to decrease much more

if there is a focus on training skilled employees in growing workforces, Slappey said. There is a

need for government programs to push incentives for training.

The University of Central Floridas students can also help develop Orlandos economy, said

Micheal Soll, president of Orlando-based Innovation Group consulting firm for the gaming and

leisure industry.
Soll, 47, said UCF has become one of the major universities in Florida that is a choice for

incoming college freshmen from other parts of the state.

It is bringing a lot of energy and bodies to Orlando city, Soll said.

Gainesville, Fla. resident, Cat Wahl, 22, relocated to Orlando last year as a junior transfer student

to continue her communications sciences and disorders major at UCF. She currently works part-

time as a server at Sno Tea Caff, a shop that serves authentic Taiwanese bubble tea and desserts,

6-10 hours week. She makes Floridas minimum wage of $8.05 an hour. Wahl said she

appreciates the gas prices in Central Florida.

You would think since Gainesville is a much smaller town, gas would be cheaper, Wahl said.

But theyre a good, 30-40 cents higher.

Although gas prices fell, food prices rose, said Stephanie Betancourt, full-time server at Plancha,

a Cuban-American restaurant located in Orlandos Four Seasons Resort Hotel.

That is a good thing for my field of work, Betancourt said.

Betancourt, 22, makes an estimated wage of $15 an hourputting her below the poverty line of

$30,000 for a single adult with no children in Florida.

Orlandos economy is getting better, but it is still in need of improvement, Betancourt said. It is

difficult for the average working class to survive without making significant sacrifices in

expenses.

My parents recently divorced, Betancourt said. I live with my mom now to help her

financially for a little while. I make a pretty sufficient amount to pay for bills and maybe

leisure.
Timeshares are a large portion of the real estate driving force in Orlandos economy, said Camilo

Jaramillo, a full-time salesman for Timeshares Only in Central Florida. It is one of the major

timeshare capitals of the world alongside Vegas and Mexico.

As the economy improves, the timeshare business alongside tourism will be an important factor

in Orlandos economic growth, Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo, 25, makes an estimated annual $65,000-$70,000 salary with commission and health

benefitsputting him at more than double Orlandos average weekly wage of $848, the first-

quarter of 2016 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

The cost of living is reasonable for somebody to live comfortably - if you are single, Jaramillo

said. Thank God! I had a girlfriend and that did not work out for me.

Overall, Orlandos economy is dependent on leisure, hospitality, housing and health, said Uluc

Aysun, assistant professor of economics at UCF. The sectors outside of health - leisure,

hospitality and housing - can be volatile. It may be a good idea to prepare for potential shocks.

If the housing market were to fall, how can we absorb some of the shock to avoid it from

affecting us too much? Aysun asked. Looking at the Bureau Labor of Statistics can give us a

basic idea.

With a total number of 1.2 million people working in Orlando in non-farm trade, the number of

employment for leisure and hospitality were around 254,000. The number of trade, transportation

and utilities came in second at around 227,000. Education and health services followed at around

153,600 and government numbers were 123,000.

Diversifying industries to where the market lacks growth would help, Aysun said.
The consumer confidence in Florida declined 1.5 points in September to 90.0 points, according

to the latest University of Florida consumer survey. The view of an individuals financial

situation rose to 84.5 points, up 3.5 points from the same period last year and considerations to

splurge excessively on something, like an appliance, fell to 92.2 points, down 9.9 points from the

same period last year.

Although Floridas economy is growing with the number of jobs increasing every month, there

are concerns on the quality of these jobs, the University of Florida consumer survey reported.

Even so, there is a layer of upward potential based on what appears to be some excitement

around Orlando as an increasingly productive incubator city for technology and medical

services, Soll said.

The positive outlook and energy of Orlandos economy makes having a family and raising

children here a great experience because it keeps the children optimistic about opportunities here

and the rest of the world, Soll said.

Orlando is one of the top tourist and entertainment destinations in the world, our economy is

sure to rise quickly with the nations recovery from the recession. Hook said. If history has

proved anything over the years since Rome and the gladiators, it is that our humankind will

always seek out entertainment.