Managing Editor
A review of targeted jobs for Jacksonville finds that the fastest-growing occupations are in computers and maintenance, while the highest-paid entry-level jobs are computer and information-systems managers.
The Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation released the “2010-11 Regional Targeted Occupations List” for its statewide workforce regions, including the six-county area of Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns.
The criteria called for jobs with required certification or community college credit or a degree; at least
25 annual job openings and posi-
tive growth; and an average hourly wage of at least $12.80 and an average minimum hourly entry wage of about $10.40.
High-skill, high-wage occupations are those with at least an average hourly wage of $20.06 and an average hourly entry wage of $12.80.
The criteria eliminated jobs that require less than college or certification or that pay less than an average entry wage of about $10.40 an hour.
But not all of the jobs are here to stay, it seems.
The state also noted that some of the occupations, while targeted, are in declining industries and are not expected to return to their historical peak soon, or there is an oversupply of trained workers.
Melanie Moore, senior director of business intelligence at the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber targets industries rather than specific occupations.
In recent months, both PNC Financial Services and Digital Risk Solutions, for example, announced they would hire a total of 500 jobs in Jacksonville in the financial services field.
“Recent meetings indicate that many large companies will soon be adding new jobs in Northeast Florida, many of which are high-skill, high-wage positions,” said Moore.
“With recent announcements from PNC and Digital Risk, we are seeing significant growth in financial services, one of our targeted industries,” said Moore.
Candace Moody, vice president of the WorkSource job service, said WorkSource is tracking job postings through all regional systems, including job boards and company websites, in addition to its job database, the Employ Florida Marketplace.
“Postings are up 40 percent year over year,” Moody said of August 2009 to August 2010.
“We’re noticing increased hiring in information technology, sales, which crosses all industries, and of course, health care, which continued to create jobs even during the deepest part of the recession,” she said.
Moody said that the logistics and transportation industry is another that is being closely watched.
“Companies affiliated with the port have been showing hiring activity over the past few weeks, which is great news for our local workforce,” she said.
In the Jacksonville region, the top 10 targeted occupations among three measures:
• By entry-level hourly wage, all 10 were high-skill, high-wage, led by the computer and information-systems managers at an entry-level wage of an average $41.71. However, the agency reported just 26 openings a year.
The highest number of openings at the highest average entry-level pay came in the category of medical and health services managers, at $30.25 an hour with 367 openings a year.
• The top targeted jobs ranked by annual percentage growth were led by network systems and data communications analysts. The annual percentage growth in those jobs was reported at 4.76 percent, with an average hourly entry wage of $22.38. The second was medical assistants, at 4.22 percent and $10.96.
• The top jobs by the number of annual openings was the category of general maintenance and repair workers, at 1,423 openings a year at an average entry-level pay of $10.36 an hour. Customer service representatives came in second at 1,026 openings a year at entry pay averaging $11.03.
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