by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Standing before a room of local business leaders and politicians, Lynda Keever made one point very clear: Florida, and Jacksonville in particular, are “on fire.”
Keever, publisher of Jacksonville Trend Magazine, spoke Tuesday afternoon at Compass Bank’s Compass on Business speaker series. She previewed the results from Florida Trend’s annual CEO survey, now in its fifth year.
Hitting news stands later this month, Keever said the data illustrates that an overwhelmingly positive and self-sustaining economic surge lies ahead for much of the state.
“For the past five years, we’ve interviewed CEOs to find out how they view the economic future of their businesses, their industry and the state,” said Keever. “The results from this year’s survey are especially important because, bringing good news, they provide insight into the potential effects of this year’s hurricanes.”
Those effects, said Keever, are surprisingly minimal.
“Nine out of 10 CEOs say they will reach their revenue goals this year,” said Keever. “That’s way up from previous years.”
Keever said Jacksonville’s CEO responses mirrored those across the state.
In 2001, 64 percent reached their goals. That percentage rose only slightly through 2003.
Keever said expectations are also up. Eight out of 10, surveyed predicted their organizations performance next year will outshine 2004.
“One reason CEOs are optimistic about the upcoming year is their perceptions of the national economy,” she said. “When the national economy performs well, Florida’s economy does even better.”
That’s especially good news for Florida’s tourism market.
In September, attendance at Florida attractions and the businesses that support them was reportedly down 30 percent from September 2003.
Keever said that temporary hiccup would be just that, temporary.
“Almost all CEOs in tourism-related businesses, including hotels and airlines, said they expect their organizations’ performance to improve in 2005,” said Keever. “Our analysis showed that the problems currently being experienced in tourism-related businesses are not expected to last long.
“That’s obviously good news.”
And what of the economic growth outside of tourism? Keever said a similar, if not stronger, push will persist.
“Several findings in this year’s Florida CEO Trends survey indicate continued economic growth,” she said. “One is a decline in the tough cost-cutting measures of the recent past.”
Keever said measures including hiring freezes and staff travel reductions will be optioned less frequently. In fact, a reported 75 percent of those surveyed said they had no plans of implementing similar cost-saving measures.
A second motivator behind the expected economic boom: continued growth in work force projections.
According to the survey, nearly 70 percent of Florida CEOs expect to increase their staffing in 2005. That’s an 11 percent jump from just last year.
“In fact, Florida has the fastest growing economy of any state in the nation,” said Keever. “Between August 2003 and August 2004, non-farm employment in Florida increased by 155,400 jobs.”
That figure eclipsed Texas’ and California’s data by one-third. It more than doubled New York’s.
And despite being an industry insider, this year’s CEO survey results were so good that Keever, herself, was surprised.
“Pleasantly surprised,” she said. “Even for us at Florida Trend, it’s possible to miss the forest for the trees before you have it right in front of you like this. It’s amazing how the CEOs responded, especially when you consider that we sent it out during the hurricanes. They remained extremely
positive.”