Market Commentaries are a series of timely analyses produced by the Orlando Economic Partnership’s Market Intelligence team. Commentaries are typically associated with a major data release or cover areas key to advancing the Partnership’s goal of Broad-based Prosperity®.
| ✓ | The Orlando Economic Partnership has facilitated the creation of more than 25,500 new jobs in the last 7 years. |
| ✓ | Wages associated with Partnership projects have been consistently higher than the regional average. |
| ✓ | Economic development is hugely competitive, and the region must act intentionally to continue to attract business investment. |
The Orlando Economic Partnership was formed in early 2017, the result of a merger between the Central Florida Partnership and the Orlando Economic Development Commission. Seven years later, as our community celebrates Economic Development Week, the Partnership’s economic development results defy a period of global uncertainty.
25,500+ New Jobs & Counting
In the last seven years, the Partnership has announced 185 business relocations or expansions – projects that committed to creating 25,500 new jobs, or approximately 3,700 new jobs per year. The Partnership experienced its most challenging year in FY 19/20 (the same year a global pandemic sent business investment across the world into an overnight freefall) but has bounced back to secure more than 13,000 new jobs in the years since.
Growing High-Wage Industry
At its core, economic development is about generating better opportunities for all and raising income levels across the region.
To achieve this, economic development organizations typically select a handful of industries upon which to focus – targeting industries in which the community has existing strength, which have strong future growth potential, and which offer wages higher than the regional average.
The Partnership has always been at the forefront of this movement, engaging every few years in a thoughtful, data-driven process of identifying and validating our targeted industries. 86% of the jobs announced in the last seven years have been in the Partnership’s six targeted industries:
This high-wage strategy has paid dividends: the average wage of new jobs facilitated by the Partnership has been higher than the regional average in all but one year. Over the 7-year period, jobs announced by the Partnership have had an average wage premium of 30%.
Taking targeted action to make sure these high-wage opportunities are accessible to all is a key strategy in advancing Broad-based Prosperity in the region.
Attracting Future Investment
For all the region’s success, economic development has never been more competitive. New investment and jobs are coveted by every community in the country, and every business has options when considering its next home.
Communities that were successful yesterday are not guaranteed to be successful tomorrow. Increasingly, businesses are looking to communities to demonstrate long-term vision and planning.
The Partnership’s Orlando 2045 initiative, which aims to create a shared vision for a prosperous, vibrant, and sustainable future for the region, presents an opportunity to create an environment that will continue to attract businesses. Over the next few decades, businesses will be drawn to communities that have proactively considered the major trends shaping the world (trends such as energy sustainability, housing affordability, and traffic congestion) and planned accordingly.
Across these areas, Orlando must be among the most forward-looking regions in the country. Significant economic damage can result from long-term, unaddressed needs, but proactive action will enable and accelerate economic growth.
As we celebrate Economic Development Week, Orlando today is home to many vibrant businesses - some new to the region in the last seven years and others with decades of history in our community. What’s required now is the foresight to plan for tomorrow’s economy, and the bold moves to put the region on a path to a sustainable economic future.
