Brevard employment market remains strong, with more balance between jobs, job-seekers
Even with a relatively high inflation rate and a pullback in the national economy, Brevard County's job market remains strong.
The local unemployment rate was 2.6% in October ― the latest-available figure. That marked the ninth consecutive month of a jobless rate under 3%, including a record low of 2.2% in April.
"I still would describe it as a very, very low rate," said CareerSource Brevard President Marci Murphy. "I feel like we still have labor shortages."
"We're kind of an enigma, compared to the the rest of the United States," Murphy added. "We're just different here in Florida," with the influx of people moving into the state from other parts of the country.
Job fair:Dozens of Brevard businesses seek to recruit staff at Wednesday's CareerSource job fair
Space Coast charter school:Brevard charter school focuses on science, technology and Spanish
National Retail Federation survey:Retail trends for Christmas season, including 166.3 million people shopping this weekend
Those new arrivals keep the economy strong and demand for workers high.
That was evident at a Nov. 30 CareerSource Brevard job fair in Viera, which 55 employers attended, seeking to fill job openings from among the 360 job-seekers in attendance.
Among the employers was Knight Enterprises, a Titusville-based company that makes weapons and accessories for military and non-military applications.
Elizabeth Cox, a recruiter with Knight, said she was looking to fill about 25 openings in 15 different job classifications for her company, which has 305 employees.
"It has been a little bit of a challenge, but we have had good candidates" at the job fair, Cox said, adding "more people are looking for opportunities again."
Cox noted that some job-seekers "are being more selective" in the starting pay they will accept ― for example, seeking a $20-an-hour wage, even for an entry-level position.
Recruiting employees:Dozens of Brevard businesses seek to recruit staff at Wednesday's CareerSource job fair
Tyler Sirois, vice president for human resources at Atlantic Development of Cocoa, a construction company with 40 employees, also is finding recruitment challenging.
"In this industry, it's hard to find people with the skill set we need," said Sirois, who also is a member of the Florida House of Representatives. "Construction is always a challenge."
He said that's particularly true for such positions as heavy-equipment operators and drivers with commercial driver's licenses.
Sirois said he is hoping apprenticeship programs and technical training in local high schools will make recruitment a little easier.
Murphy said she is seeing no indication of major layoffs among local employers, and no signs of weakness among labor sectors. She has found that larger companies are continue to try to poach workers from other companies, as the quest for employees remains competitive.
In October, the number of employed Brevard County residents was 293,445, and the number of unemployed Brevard residents actively looking for work was 7,854.
Nine of the 10 major job sectors in Brevard County had year-over-year jobs gains in October, according to CareerSource Brevard. They were education and health services (+2,000 jobs); leisure and hospitality (+1,900 jobs); manufacturing (+1,700 jobs); trade, transportation and utilities (+900 jobs); professional and business services (+700 jobs); other services (+600 jobs); construction, mining and logging (+400 jobs); government (+300 jobs); and financial activities (+200 jobs).
No industries lost jobs over the year.
The Information industry was unchanged in jobs over the year.
Florida, Brevard rank high in job market
State officials said that Florida’s focus on training workers with technical skills and credentials is paying off, as the state has been named No. 1 in the United States for attracting and developing a skilled workforce, based on Lightcast’s 2022 Talent Attraction Scorecard. Lightcast is a labor market analytics company.
The report measures six growth areas of the most recent five-year period, including net migration of counties adding new residents, overall job creation, skilled job creation, annual job openings per capita, education attainment and competitive effect.
Ian's impact:Unemployment rates rise Brevard, Florida; Hurricane Ian impacts felt in job losses
Florida led the nation in talent attraction, and 15 Florida counties with a population of 100,000 or more were in the top 50 among 609 large counties ranked. That included Brevard County, at No. 22 in the country.
“Each Floridian benefits when our state is providing high-paying jobs in growth fields that will boost our economy for years to come,” Florida Deputy Secretary of Commerce Laura DiBella said in a statement discussing the findings. “The proof is everywhere, as counties big and small are growing and thriving.”
Florida's Labor Market Estimating Conference ― which develops detailed supply-and-demand projections for Florida labor markets — in October released a report that showed that 13 job classifications in Brevard County will have a "critical undersupply" of employees by 2031-32. This analysis focused on jobs that require either an associate's degree or postsecondary non-degree training.
Job categories with the most projected unfilled jobs by 2031-32 include nursing assistants (845 openings); licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (373 openings); real estate sales agents (257 openings); and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (163 openings).
Seeking new opportunities
Many of the job-seekers at the Viera fair had jobs, but were looking for new opportunities.
For example, Cocoa resident Cornel Tracey is an over-the-road long-haul truck driver who may spend one or two months at a time on the road, with only a few days at home during that stretch.
But he wants to switch to a truck driving job at a local company, so he can be home more with his family, including his 8-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.
Tracey applied with several employers at the job fair, and said the prospects look promising.
Similarly, Melbourne resident Bonnie Roberts is currently employed, but is looking to move to a new position.
Roberts — who previously worked for Boeing in Washington and now works at a Melbourne circuit board manufacturer ― was at the job fair looking for positions as an inventory specialist or in materials handling.
Roberts noticed that is seemed to be a trend of many employed people now "trying to get an upper hand" by seeking out more attractive positions with a higher pay level.
Space-sector jobs popular
Space and aerospace companies were among the more popular employers at the job fair, judging by the long lines of job candidates waiting to speak with their recruiters.
The turnout at the Craig Technologies booth was so strong that recruiting specialist Matthew Riddlehoover said he ran out of business cards and company brochures during the three-hour event.
Riddlehoover said the Merritt Island-based company ― which works in the aerospace, space defense and communications sectors ― is looking to fill 87 openings, adding to its current staff of 175. And Craig's sister company, Sidus Space, has more than 100 positions it wants to add to its 150-employee staff.
Riddlehoover said he believes it's starting to "become a little bit easier" to recruit staff, although, with the increasing space launch cadence, the need for space-industry employees will continue to grow.
Among those interested in space-sector jobs was Travis Nichols, a Navy veteran who moved from Connecticut to Titusville with his wife, Christina Nichols, who was seeking jobs in education or law enforcement at the job fair.
"I thought the job fair was great," Christina Nichols said after the event. "There were a lot of opportunities available."
She added, however, that an obstacle for many job-seekers is having the initial experience to secure a job with the employers who are hiring.
"Breaking in is a challenge," said Nichols, who is looking to return to the workforce after 4½ years as a stay-at-home mom.
Generally, Murphy said, Brevard "employers will still be hiring, but they are no longer in hyper-replacement mode," desperate to fill job openings.
"They are focused on retaining the employees they have," Murphy said, as well as "taking talent development into their own hands."
That includes work-based training programs and apprenticeship programs.
A company, for example, might hire job candidates with half the job skills sought, then train them in the other requirements while they are on the payroll.
Many companies also are continuing to shift toward remote work situations, where feasible, rather than basing staff in an office setting.
Jimmy Heckman, bureau chief of workforce statistics and economic research for the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, said during a briefing on the latest unemployment data that many of the unemployed people in Florida were not laid off but rather were reentering the labor force or voluntarily had left their last job to seek out a better job.
He also noted that the number of people moving into Florida from other states is the highest net migration of any state in the country.
"Florida has really, really strong labor force growth," Heckman said. "That has been very consistent. We see continued very strong job numbers."
All that, Heckman said, are "signs of a really healthy, really active labor market."
Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard employment market remains strong, with many openings to fill
