OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT GAPS

The study team worked with the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to identify estimates of the most recent Southwest Florida employment gaps by using online job postings and graduations to identify summer 2019 employment gaps. Employment gaps are identified by utilizing both the total supply and short-term demand for an occupation. Total supply consists of all people who are potentially available for employment for a specific occupation, consisting of all completers/graduates from public and private postsecondary educational institutions in the state of Florida plus all jobseekers. Likewise, short-term demand consists of the number of people needed to fill openings for a specific occupation. The overall employment gap identified by this study using the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity demand and supply analysis was approximately 9,979 positions.

Employment gaps are positions that have a regional demand greater than the estimated supply available for the Southwest Florida market. Some of these positions will be filled from outside the region, firms may hire less qualified candidates, or the positions may be left vacant for an extended period of time. It is our hope that identifying these regional employment gaps can assist parents, students, employers, and educators in identifying potential opportunities.

The top 10 employment gaps were for retail salespersons, first-line supervisors of retail sales, stock clerks and order fillers, customer service representatives, first-line supervisors of food preparation and service, maintenance and repair workers, first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers, cashiers, sales representatives (all other services), and food preparation and serving workers. The employment gap, current employment level, median wage and minimum educational requirements for the top 10 employment gaps are shown in Table 6-1. The median hourly wages for the top 10 employment gaps ranged from $9.57 per hour to $24.84 per hour. The minimum education requirements for each occupation varied from less than high school to some college.

A complete list of the top 50 employment gaps in Southwest Florida can be found in the Appendix.

Table 6-1: Top Employment Gaps

Summer 2019

Occupation

Retail Salespersons First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers Stock Clerks and Order Fillers

Current Supply Gap

-906 -818 -344

Customer Service Representatives First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers Maintenance and Repair Workers, General First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers Cashiers

-316 -267 -253 -223 -167

Sales Representatives, Services, All Other

-162

Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food -160 Source: Occupational Supply/Demand Report, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity

Current Employment

24,294 8,160 7,917 9,073 4,565 5,694 5,072 15,635 3,962 11,812

Median Wage

$11.02 $20.39 $11.71 $13.72 $16.44 $17.24 $24.84 $9.57 $23.14 $9.70

Minimum Education

HS/GED PS Adult Voc HS/GED PS Adult Voc PS Adult Voc PS Adult Voc Some College HS/GED HS/GED Less HS/GED