48% of projected jobs created during first of three annual reporting periods
Our investors and community partners will recall that, in March of this year, the EDC's Board of Directors voted unanimously to institute a three-part system of reporting and verifying job impact numbers announced by this organization. Specifically, it was decided that we would do the following on an ongoing, annual basis:
1. Institute procedures to ensure that all communications, both written and verbal, clearly and consistently reflect the fact that job impact numbers announced by the EDC are based on projections provided by the company, and that they reflect new or retained jobs to be generated within three or more years. We will build in this important clarification as part of our proactive communication outreach efforts, which are designed to build awareness of the mission of the EDC to attract, retain and grow jobs for the region.
2. Work with our government partners to verify and report progress toward the creation of all jobs associated with incentivized economic development projects. We are confident in our ability to accurately collect this data, which will be made available as quickly as possible each fiscal year.
3. Formalize an ongoing process of re-contacting past corporate clients who did not receive incentives. Though non-incentivized companies are not required to report, we will attempt to ascertain their progress in actually creating previously announced jobs. Our intent will be to provide the information about non-incentivized companies in aggregate, thereby maintaining the confidentiality of those who requested it. We will make that information available as quickly as possible each fiscal year in the form of a white paper that provides qualitative as well as quantitative details related to our efforts to verify the job impact of non-incentivized projects.
With the close of our fiscal year on September 30th, the verification process described above was put into action. The EDC retained a consultant, Mike Cooney of Michael B. Cooney Strategic Advisors, LLC, to contact those companies who had not received a project incentive. Mike Bobroff, EDC Executive Vice President & COO, worked directly with those government officials who audited job creation progress by companies who had received an incentive. The job impact numbers verified were those reported in October 2009, at the conclusion of the EDC's 2008-2009 fiscal year.
Most notably, the results of this process indicate that of the 3,031 jobs announced at the end of fiscal year 2008-2009, 1,444 (48 percent) of the total jobs projected to be created within three to five years were verified as already created within this first of at least three annual reporting periods. Also notable is the fact that, when we account for two incentivized projects for which state audit data is not yet available, 63 percent of jobs projected within three to five years have already been created at the end of the first reporting period.
The magnitude of these companies' accomplishment is particularly impressive when we compare their results with the negative employment growth figures reported nationwide. According to AWI Labor Market Info, overall employment growth in the U.S. was -4.8 percent, in Florida was -6.1 percent, and in Metro Orlando was -6.8 percent during the past two years. It is evident that, at least collectively, these 24 companies have significantly outperformed the norm.
Needless to say, overall we view these results as positive. During the worst recession in decades, these companies have beaten the odds and, as a group, have grown even more than expected in the reporting period. Companies ahead of schedule in their job creation cycle cited the local business climate as the reason for their success.
While it is heartening to see local companies on track or ahead of schedule in their job creation projections, many employers continue to meet challenges in achieving their job creation goals. Representatives with the companies behind schedule stated the single leading cause was directly related to the national and global economies or an unforeseen change in their respective business conditions. They cite factors such as lost clients, scaled back contracts and unsuccessful bids for additional business.
We are also quick to caution that it is too early to draw many substantial conclusions from this first period reporting data. Companies with which the EDC works recognize that job creation, which is tied to corporate growth, occurs over time. In recognition of that, job impact numbers provided by these companies and reported by the EDC are based on three to five year projections of future growth. Thus, it is data collected in the third period reporting cycle that will provide us with the most accurate picture of these companies' success in creating the jobs they anticipated when working with the EDC.
Click here to read the executive summary of the EDC's Job Verification Report, which was shared with our Board of Directors earlier this week. Please do not hesitate to ask if you would like additional information or a copy of the full report. You can direct those questions via e-mail to Mike Bobroff or Maureen Brockman or by calling 407.422.7159.
Thank you for your interest and support of the work of the Metro Orlando EDC.
