Sunshine Sentinel

The vice president of a nonprofit organization that provides workforce services in Sarasota and Manatee counties in Florida said focusing on educating the workforce is important as Florida continues its economic recovery.

Anthony Gagliano, vice president of CareerSource Suncoast, a nonprofit that according to its website recruits, trains and retains “talent for employers on the Suncoast,” said that education is key as people return to or begin work.

In July, Florida’s private sector gained 63,900 jobs, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity reported in an Aug. 20 press release.

Anthony Gagliano, vice president of CareerSource Suncoast, says that workforce education is important as Florida continues its economic recovery. | LinkedIn

“Our focus is always on how we continue to educate our workforce,” Gagliano told the Sunshine Sentinel. “We’ve got great universities and college system. Our local school districts are strong. I think that certainly anything I do to continue to help those (that’s) only going to improve our workforce.”

In an effort to return more Floridians to work, Florida ended on its participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program on June 26, specifically, the $300 per week supplemental payment, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said in a May 24 press release. The action followed an April labor statistics report that showed that while there were over 460,000 online job postings in Florida, the total private-sector employment increased by 18,800 jobs. 

The goal of opting out of the benefit was to help expand the workforce and help businesses who need workers.

“For 12 consecutive months, Florida’s unemployment rate, currently at 5.1%, has remained below the national rate of 5.4%,” the Aug. 20 press release said. “The change in Florida’s unemployment rate (up 0.1 percentage point from June) reflects the significant increase in the labor force of 83,000 over the month, the largest increase since July 2020.”

Florida had 15 consecutive months of job growth, gaining "63,900 private sector jobs over the month (of July),” the press release said.

“This is the largest monthly increase in private sector jobs since June 2020. In total, Florida has gained 964,400 jobs since the height of the pandemic,” the press release said. “... Data in the month of July indicates that there continues to be many job opportunities available for Floridians throughout the state, with more than 545,000 jobs posted online.”

The fact that the labor force is increasing is good news, Gagliano said.

“…which tells me that the general public is optimistic and there are good opportunities out there for them,” Gagliano said.