Jobs Report
People Need Jobs
The Jobs Committee was formed to research the problem of jobs in Volusia County. Our research showed us that the state of Florida has an unemployment rate of 8%, and Volusia County has an unemployment rate of 8.3%. The research also showed us that if every single job in Volusia County (over 314,000) went to a Volusia County resident in the labor force (252,300), we would have jobs to spare. So why is it that over 20,000 people remain unemployed? The Jobs Committee has worked for 70 hours over the past 4 and a half months to find the answers to this question. We began by reading the stories shared in house meetings that related to jobs. In these stories, three areas of concern were continually mentioned:
- Transportation-the difficulty that people have getting to potential jobs available in their community
- Ex-felon Discrimination-the feeling that prejudice against ex-felons could be keeping people sealed off from opportunities to work.
- Low wages-the recognition that minimum wage is too low to sustain a family and the discontent with the inability to use a high level of education, experience, or training because of a lack of opportunity.
As we learned more about the problem of transportation in the county, we found that while transportation across the county is an issue, it would not radically affect the unemployment rate at this time. We also learned that there are many programs in place to help ex-felons find work in Volusia County. We received a list of companies that will hire ex-felons and Goodwill Job Connection Center, Haven Recovery, The Adult Drug Court, and Stewart Marchman/ ACT all work with ex-felons to help them find employment. Often, however, the jobs they are able to find are not well paid. In the area of Low Wages, we found that raising minimum wage in the county was out of our reach at this time but our research also showed us that there are currently good paying jobs in the county that are going unfilled.
Jobs Need People
There are over 400 manufacturers in Volusia County, many of which are looking to expand. Manufacturing jobs average $42,000 a year, much higher than Volusia County’s average annual rate. The problem is that manufacturers are having difficulty finding trained an experienced employees to fill essential positions. There are two contributors to this problem that we could uncover. The first is that our community does not have a history of experience in the manufacturing field. This means that though the manufacturing industry is growing in the county, an experienced workforce has not been developing over time to meet the need. A long term solution to this problem is stronger promotion of career and technical pathways at the high school and junior high level which would potentially allow students to become successful in the workforce directly after high school. Dr. Margaret Smith, the superintendent of Volusia Schools is here to share a few ways that the school can promote career and technical programs.
The other more immediate part of the problem lies with knowledge and access to the resources available in the county. There are amazing resources in Volusia County that work to give job-seekers their best possible chance at finding good paying jobs but these resources are not being utilized to their fullest capacity. One way to improve access to these resources is through the improvement of Mini Career Links, which are extensions of the Center for Business Excellence’s One-Stop Career Centers. Members of the Jobs Committee went to 8 Mini-Career Links during the days and times listed on their website and results of those visits showed us that there are improvements that need to be made to make the centers more effective at assisting jobs-seekers. Tonight, we will ask the Center for Business Excellence to implement these improvements and work to promote their service in the community.
RESEARCH MEETINGS CONDUCTED
Haven Recovery
Center for Business Excellence
Goodwill Job Connection Center
Stewart Marchman/ ACT
Volusia Literacy Council
Team Volusia
One Voice for Volusia
Volusia Manufacturers Association
Daytona State College
Advanced Technology College
Embry-Riddle University
AO Precision
Miller-Lehman
Charles Bryant at Midtown Redevelopment
Judge Will of Adult Drug Court
Volusia County Economic Development
Dr. Margaret Smith, Superintendent of Schools
EMPLOYMENT RESOURCES
Specific field training:
Daytona State College
Center for Business Excellence
High School Career Academies
GED assistance
Daytona State College
Center for Business Excellence
Goodwill Job Connection Center
Adult Drug Court
Life-skill classes
Daytona State College
Goodwill Job Connection Center
Haven Recovery
Center for Business Excellence
Spring Hill Resource Center
Reading Skills
Volusia Literacy Council
Daytona State College
