South Florida Economic Policy Recommendation - Research Paper Example

? South Florida Economic Policy Recommendation The Economy of South Florida The region of South Florida comprises of three countries ly Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward. The three international gateway of the region serves the purpose of tourism and commerce gateway. The region is the part of the seven county South East Florida region. While considering the economy of the region it is important to take into consideration the MSA functions as one of the engines of economic growth with various public, private and nonprofit institutions within the three county MSA and beyond. The economy suffered a slowdown in the later stages of the last decade but currently population is on the rise. The population is highly mobile with a combination of large influx of international migration coupled with large number of domestic migrants. The large and diverse population is an asset for the economy to compete on the global platform. The diverse population offers multi-lingual workforce and diverse culture for business environment. The growth track of the economy will allow the local governments to make significant amount of investments on infrastructure. The Comprehensive Economic Strategy provides the road map for the economy to strength itself. The update for 2012 of the CEDS brings an opportunity to align and coordinate with various states through integrated and results oriented approach. The update follows the six pillars of Florida’s future economy. The pillars are supply of talent and education, inventions and development of the economy, infrastructure and growth leadership, competitiveness and suitable climate for business, civic as well as Governance systems and Quality of places and life. The state is following the five year strategic plan based on the above discussed pillars. The recovery of South Florida may be in doubt but the recent months have succeeded to gather some success (Oyola-Yemaiel, 2000, p. 354-357). The improving labor market has produced a gross gain for the economy. The start of this year replicated the conditions with that of 2002. The dials shifted after the improvement of employment statistics. According to the releases of the University of Central Florida even if the economy is in the phase of experiencing sluggish progress but the forecasts surely beats that of recession. The economy has to cover a long way before it can make any mark of the global scenario. The Economic Problem To analyze the economic problems or the opportunities for the region the most important that comes on the mid of analysts are steady supply of talent and improved educational facilities. There is an emerging talent gap in Florida. There is a crisis in human capital that represents a vast and ever widening gap between the need of available skilled and educated workforce and availability of workforce. The council of Florida of 100s Closing the Talent Gap published the issues and requisite recommendations related to the talent supply chain of Florida which is defined in four zones namely Pre-K, Primary or Secondary, the post Secondary phase and the Development of Workforce. In the coming years new innovative products will be introduced to deal with the challenges of environment, medical as well as transportation. The application of the policies will break through to gain the rewards of leadership. Efforts are the call of the time of the time to develop the right skills for the right people and at the right time. The talent Supply chain of the country aims to attract new businesses into the country as well as expand the already existing ones by the promotion of the delivery system, to strike a balance between the supply and demand of talent to met the requirements for the new economy, build a repository of all programs made available for the business opportunities, develop some measures to analyze the development of the talent supply chain over time. According to UCF, the construction sector of the country suffered huge job loss and it is expected that the sector will find the track again in 2031. The rate of unemployment will stay at around 8% through the second half of 2014. Some eminent economists opine that jobs are being created and further look into the forecast horizon portrays brighter picture for the economy. The training of the workforce for the future is the need of the time. The educational institutions and the leaders of the industries from various sectors can involve themselves in close ties with the aim to develop training programs for the available workforce of the country. The skilled work force will contribute to meet the diversification and the growth goals of the economy. South Florida needs to care about brain drain. The post secondary talents are willing to move out of the country for some reason. Educating and imputing skills upon a workforce and retain that workforce within the geographical boundaries are different issues. The economic recession acted as the constraint on brain drain net the young education residents are trying to find out ways for migrating into other countries in search of jobs and better educational facilities. It is indispensable to recognize the dynamics of emerging workforce which is increasingly mobile at the moment due to advent of advancement of technology. The decisions on locations are driven by the values and the opportunities of the region. It is extremely important for an economy to retain the persons who have proficiency in English and graduated from high school and willing to attain higher educational degrees. It should be ensured that the bright students prefer to stay within South Florida and not be a flying bird. The supply of talent and education is dependent on the other pillars as well. Retaining the best brains requires providing them incentives in the form of infrastructure, best business climate, better quality of life and stress on economic development. The supply of talent must be viewed from a broader perspective than just improvement of training and education facilities as this is an asset for any economy. A country can take steps to educate the young, provide them with good training skills but lack of opportunities will force them to migrate out of the country and the overall economic development of the country remains on the gloomy path. Therefore a detailed educational plan and creating employment opportunities with the country should be the objective of the policy makers. Proposed Economic Policy The Comprehensive Development Economic Strategy needs to set out the vision effectively. It should portray the state as the international center of trade, business, talent, tourism and investment. The economic growth and prosperity of Florida can be enhanced by intermodal transportation system. It is of extreme importance to preserve the natural environment and maintain a stable quality of life. The objectives need to be set on improvement of employment conditions, trigger the opportunities for prosperity, clean and clear growth strategies for business, expansion of global commerce, increase the attractiveness of the economy in front of workers, residents and employers, increasing usage of the intermodal transportation system available within the economy (Carvajal, 2006). The cross cutting strategies that can be proposed are improve the collaboration between the various public and private entities to support one aim for the economic vision of the entire region, development of regional talent using the best practices available worldwide, integration of infrastructure with other resources, enhance the position of Florida on global platform, enhance the resiliency of South Florida to respond, recover and adapt itself to the future trend, focus on the increasing the equity as well as the disparities within the economy and increase the participation of the community in prosperity plans. Some area specific strategies can also be undertaken. In the area of supply if talent and education, the strategies which can be adopted are development of workforce as well as retain the talented workers to meet the current or the future needs of the employers in South Florida, develop an integrated system ranging from pre-k to post secondary system that will include career education system as well as training on operating micro businesses for the students of the regions to become successful entrepreneurs in the years to come, focus on innovation on the field of science, technology, research and some other market relevant technical training, the distressed communities can be brought under the access of education and training programs, development of cultural curriculum for the residents to communicate among the dialects in the region. In the arena of innovation and economic development the strategies that can be undertaken are foster a diversified and strong economy by encouraging the emergence of new industries and strengthening the clusters that are already existing, efforts to induce research and development and allocate capital for expansion of business processes, adequate steps to enhance the position of South Florida as the destination for business. The arena of infrastructure and growth leadership the policies that undertaken can be directed to development and maintenance of multimodal interconnected systems of transport to provide support to the globally competitive economy, development of cost effective energy resources by introducing technical advancements and exploring the alternative sources of energy. Time can be lent on the introduction of renewable sources of energy production. The other strategies include introduction of regional water conservation to ensure that supply matches with demand and improve the quality of available water to benefit the lives of individuals, built a priority list to fund the projects related to regional capital improvement to take care of infrastructure, transportation and the sewerage systems. In the area of Business climate and competitiveness the strategies that can be undertaken are streamlining and permitting reforms and other regulatory processes to offer predictable and legal environment of business, ensure the regional and local agencies provide collaborative and timely customer service to business, introduce a friendly tax system by matching the balance between taxation d provision of public services to contribute on the competitiveness of South Florida and support the prospects of existing businesses (Stuart and Stack, 2008). In the area of civic and governance systems the strategies can be directed to improve the collaboration and coordination among different levels of the government including focus on public private partnerships and direct the investments for the benefit of welfare of the economy, increase the participation of people of strategy programs and design a transformational leadership training system and put assurance on the participation rates on decision making as well as investments at the regional level. In the area of improvement of quality of life the strategies that can be undertaken are provide equal opportunities for all residents and promote intergenerational communities, efficient transport systems, free access to the to the health care facilities for all residents. The improvement of educational facilities cannot be ignored. The planners will have to take into account the amenities for improving the quality of life as well. Promotion of the cultural assets to benefit the present and future dynamics of the region should be taken under the strategy planning process. It is required to promote and protect the natural resources of the region in a sustainable fashion. Working of the Policy The policies will support the initiatives of the institutions on science, technology, mathematics which will enrich the educational experiences of the students and they will be able to contribute to the workforce development in the long run. The policies will act as the pillars for the training programs to close down the gap between demand and supply of skilled workers within the economy. Various programs which are directed to specific sectors and customized for a segment of the population can be introduced. Surveys to determine the percentage of the skilled unemployed on frequent basis will help to determine the actual level of unemployed and strategies can be formulated to bridge the gap. It is extremely important to coordinate with the educational institutions and credit is required to be allocated among the institutions effectively so that the shortage of funds cannot be a limitation for the institutions from providing adequate training. Efforts can be promoted to have institutions that give college credit for military occupational experience. The problem for many economies is kids are not ready to get enrolled in schools and even if they do so there is a high risk of dropping out. This is not at all a wanted situation for a knowledge based economy. The early learning coalitions should be effective to deal with the problem of early learning and school readiness. The policies will support the efforts to make use of the entire labor force of the economy so that optimum utilization of labor is possible. The persons with disabilities should be brought under the purview and proper training can be provided so that they can match the requisite skills to join the working group. Impact on the market The above discussion encircled mainly on the effectiveness of promoting strategies of training and talent development. One of the main characteristics of South Florida economy is the lack of supply of skilled workforce although the workforce is large enough. This is a constraint for the economy to flourish in the long run. Therefore it is of utmost importance to introduce and provide adequate training facilities for the workforce. The employment opportunities for more workers will contribute in improving the standard of living of the economy. The quality of life will improve as well. It is difficult for an economy to provide employment opportunities to all job seekers. Therefore the policy planners always aim to provide opportunities to the maximum number possible. The availability of jobs will improve the GDP rate of the economy. More and more businesses will emerge in the economy as the investors believe that there is availability of skilled labor. More business means more job opportunities and therefore the overall welfare of the economy will improve. The demand conditions will improve which is to be matched by supply. Therefore the productivity of the economy will increase. The rise in productivity can lead the way for developing the specialized skills in producing a certain product. The specialization techniques will be gainful for the economy as it can profit from having the comparative advantage. So the promotion of training facilities and workforce development programs will be fruitful for the market as well as for the economy. References Oyola-Yemaiel, A. (2000). Towards the Formation of a Sustainable South Florida: An Analysis of Conflict Resolution and Consensus Building in the South Florida Ecosystem Restora. Universal-Publishers. USA. Carvajal, M. (2006). Economic Grounds for A?rmative Action :The Evidence on Architects and Engineers in South Florida. VOL. LXIV, NO. 4. Stuart, J. and Stack, J. (2008). The New Deal in South Florida: Design, Policy, and Community Building, 1933–1940. University Press of Florida. Bibliography Shivlani, M., Letson, D. and Theis, M. (2003). Visitor Preferences for Public Beach Amenities and Beach Restoration in South Florida. Taylor & Francis Inc. Harwell, M. (1997). Ecosystem management of South Florida. University of California Press. Read More