- Leon County added over 4,000 jobs to the local economy in the last year.
- Leaders with the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Greater Tallahassee Chamber say the county needs to do more work on childhood learning and workforce development.
- Watch the video to hear why those areas contribute to local business.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Leon County brings in over $2,000 per hour to the local economy. That's more than the entire state of Wisconsin brings in during the same time frame.
That's what people learned at the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce's 2024 Economic Forecast.
People like entreprenuer Eddie Gonzalez-Loumiet. He said small businesses like his are....
"...the backbone of any community," Gonzalez-Loumiet said.
He is the CEO of Ruvos, a medical software company based in the Northeast Neighborhood.
He's also chair of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce's economic competitiveness committee.
Over the last year, Leon County has grown their job market by more than 4,000 positions.
1 in every 72 new jobs in Florida is in Leon County.
"It shows that Leon County, Tallahassee, has improved, however, the data also shows we have a lot of work to do," Gonzalez-Loumiet said.
Some of that work: increasing the number of people working in our county.
For every 100 jobs open in the state of Florida, only 83 people are looking for work.
In Leon County, only 55 people are vying for those 100 positions.
Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson said that number needs to go up.
"We really need to do a lot to close that gap," Wilson said. "Tallahassee Chamber is doing a great job of that."
The way they're working to up that number: through their career development platform TalentHub, and working with the local universities to keep talent local.
Another roadblock facing Leon County: early childhood learning.
Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce President Sue Dick said it's important for the future of our economy.
"Kindergarten readiness will directly have an impact on third grade reading scores which will have an impact on what that student or child, the future holds," Dick said.
In 2023, only 49% of children were ready for kindergarten and only 52% in the third grade are reading at their grade level.
That's why Gonzalez-Loumiet said his company and others are working with children through reading programs and other advocacy groups.
"A company like Ruvos is not going to get an immediate profit from investing in the children, but we know five, ten, fifteen years that's important," Gonzalez-Loumiet said.
That's why he is proud to be an entrepreneur in the capitol region.
"Strong small business as we heard from Mark Wilson, supports better education, quality of life and really improves economic development," Gonzalez-Loumiet said.
If you want to get involved in programs to support early childhood learning and workforce growth in our area, head to the Tallahassee Chamber's websiteto learn more on what you can do.
