by Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
The economy was the topic at last month’s meeting of the ABC Women’s Council and they called on veteran Jacksonville business editor Karen Brune Mathis to set the tone.
She set it with encouraging words: things are improving.
Mathis, the Daily Record’s managing editor and former Times-Union business columnist, spoke on topics such as unemployment, jobs growth or the lack thereof, bankruptcies, inflation, economic indicators, housing sales and starts, foreclosures and commercial vacancies.
“The economy getting there. It’s improving from a very long and deep recession,” she said at the meeting, held in the Rogers Towers law firm’s offices. “It officially began in December 2007 and hasn’t been declared to have ended, although economists generally agree it ended last summer or fall.”
Mathis said the recovery will be slow and has been called a jobless recovery.
“The Wall Street Journal reported that economists have not declared an end because they are not sure there won’t be another, although others say it has ended and recovery has begun,” she added. “Until double-digit unemployment begins to drop, the recovery will have a more difficult time to take hold.
“There’s a positive angle to the negative indicators. Unemployed workers mean we have an attractive, available workforce for new employers. High office and industrial vacancy rates mean we have available, quality and probably lower-cost space for new companies or existing companies that want new or more. A large housing inventory means we have ample residential choices for relocating executives and workers as well as homeowners and apartment renters who want to change their addresses.”
The job market also is improving.
“The area is adding jobs, and the strongest growth is coming in retail sales.,” she said. “While these jobs don’t pay high salaries, their increase shows that consumers are shopping and stores need larger staffs.”
“Heath-care continues to be a strong and growing industry, which is favorable for the area because the jobs are skilled and higher-paying, and health care will continue to grow as the population ages.”
During the question and answer session following Mathis’s presentation, Council members shared their views of what is going on in their individual business realms.
Terri Bowman of MACTEC, an engineering firm: “We are preparing for the new normal. That is the approach we are taking in our business. We are seeing an uptake in transportation projects. People are showing work on roads and they are doing bridges, so we are hiring more of the technician-type personnel. That is a lower salary position, but we are getting more people to work. Hopefully there will be a trend that follows with the transportation in that there will be more access and maybe you’ll start leasing the commercial buildings. That is what we are preparing for because it’s never going go back to how it was. We don’t know what it’s going to be, but we are trying to figure out what that new normal is going to be.”
Michelle Tappouni of Breaking Ground Contracting: She has noticed more and more advertising, especially in the public realm, for professional consultants. “Which is good news because that means it will eventually come our way with projects that are ready to get to the streets.
Erica Bjork of Cushman & Wakefield: “Businesses are going to get back to doing business and we will see some growth. In terms of leasing opportunities, they do exist. There are plenty of good positive reasons to relocate companies here, to see some company growth and hopefully offer new jobs in the North Florida marketplace verses transfer of jobs. Businesses will need to make decisions as their leases expire and they are looking to continue to reduce their overhead. There are transactions moving around and we are getting more and more calls from companies looking to expand or consolidate or reconcile their location. So, leases are happening, owner-occupied sales are happening, but opportunities for new construction are certainly limited due to the unemployment that remains and high vacancy that is there.”
Dawn Motes of the Marietta Sand Corporation: “The people that had money still have it and are spending it. We are seeing a lot of government work including an international garden project, hospital addition and senior citizen center. The government still has money. They may cry and take it from us, but they still have a kitty that they are drawing out of for these projects. The banks are still lending to those that are credit-worthy. People who have good credit can still go out and get a loan to build what you want to build in the private sector and you have something as collateral. We are still seeing that, but we are just not seeing the big housing projects. We are still seeing some industrial and private, like hospitals, doctors offices, dentist offices and schools.”