Pinellas leaders leave silos to find new ways to prep a work force for future jobs. By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Columnist
In Print: Friday, August 5, 2011. LARGO. In a rare moment of collaboration, Pinellas County government and education leaders left their respective silos Thursday morning to meet, mingle and brainstorm about fresh ways to prep young people and the work force for jobs that area businesses expect to create and hope to fill locally in the future.
Better late than never. Tampa Bay's lost 200,000 jobs during this recession. More than 50,000 Pinellas residents still lack employment. And the county's jobless rate actually rose to 10.6 percent in June from 10 percent in May.
As Pinellas leaders were reminded, a regional economic scorecard that regularly ranks Tampa Bay against five similar Southern metro areas (from Jacksonville to Atlanta to Charlotte) finds our area at or near the bottom. We were No. 2 when the scorecard started just five years ago.
Thursday's gathering, held as the day's stock markets began to plummet from global economic worries, won't cure any of these immediate ills. But this meeting could spur county officials, educators and business leaders to break out of their entrenched bureaucracies to find innovative and efficient ways to prepare young people entering the work force with skills businesses actually need. On a larger stage, this gathering could become a first step toward shaping the greater Tampa Bay area into a stronger magnet for expanding and relocating businesses seeking superior workers. Learn more...
