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BUSINESS OBSERVER | FEBRUARY 18 – FEBRUARY 24, 2022
BusinessObserverFL.com
DataSnapshot Survey says: Affordable housing is the top concern for businesses With housing prices exploding, businesses are having a harder time getting workers to come — and stay.
While a hot housing market is good in certain ways, it has exacerbated the labor shortage on a local level. Lisa Krouse | Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County
it for themselves. However, they are also very concerned with their ability to attract and retain talent. While a hot housing market is good in certain ways, it has exacerbated the labor shortage on a local level.” In response to the ongoing crisis, the EDC is collaborating with Visit Sarasota through a “Work Where You Want to Live” campaign, announced at the end of last year. The campaign was designed with the goal of helping fill open positions at local businesses. The organizations are looking in targeted markets to attract workers to the area. Currently, they’ve shifted the focus to markets in other regions where housing is less affordable. To assist in helping local companies build a workforce, the survey also inquired about which positions were the hardest to fill. A little more
TOUGH FINDS Skilled workers are the ones businesses struggle most to find. Skilled: 508 Entry Level: 179 Unskilled: 149 Other: 127 Management: 82 Executive: 14
TOP CONCERNS The highest concerns for businesses this year, according to the annual business tax survey from the Sarasota County Economic Development Corp., include: n Housing affordability: 412 respondents n Skilled employees: 235 respondents n Cost of doing business: 193 n Internet connectivity: 162
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TOP 50 CONTRACTORS
Largest contractors in the region, ranked by revenue.
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check-in on businesses in Sarasota County revealed the real reason many struggle to hire workers: affordable housing. The annual business tax survey from the Sarasota County Economic Development Corp., conducted every fall, collected responses from 1,905 area businesses this time around. The most notable metric fell to the top concerns, which highlighted affordable housing, with the highest response rate of 412 businesses. The rising costs, the survey found, make it harder for businesses to hire and retain employees. “We are hearing from businesses every day that they love Sarasota County and want to establish or expand their companies here,” says EDC CEO Lisa Krouse in a release. “They recognize that we have an exceptional quality of life, and they want to enjoy
than 26% of businesses are struggling to fill skilled positions, followed by unskilled and entry level roles. The survey is designed to examine how well businesses are doing through questions about their experiences over the previous year and economic outlook for the coming year. In response to a question about the impact of COVID-19, 868 businesses indicated it had a negative effect. The EDC uses the survey results to support businesses in growth and expansion with business consulting, site selection assistance, financing resources and economic intelligence. The top industries to respond were professional services, construction, health care and retail. Almost 80% of businesses indicated that they do not plan to hire in the near future.