Healthcare Jobs and Smart Growth
Saturday’s unemployment report is a stark reminder that Florida has a long way to go before we recover from the current economic downturn. It is also a wake up call for those who urge we simply hunker down and hope for a return to the “good old days.” Fast growth, cheap housing, poor infrastructure and an anemic job market predicated purely on home building must give way to smarter growth and a husbanding of limited resources. Taxpayers can longer afford slothful planning and far flung suburban development poorly supported by congested roads and insufficient water infrastructure. The cost of sprawl is unsustainable and predicating our job industry on maintaining sprawl is economic suicide.
Saturday’s St Pete Times makes clear that one industry is creating jobs; the health care industry - adding 11,000 new jobs in 2009.Now is the time to double down on this growing industry - by focusing on our Universities, burgeoning Life Science Industry and connecting it together, from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to Moffitt in Tampa and Scripps in Palm Beach.
The health care industry will only continue to grow - unless Washington ruins it with a government take over - and Florida is the perfect state to become the center of the health care industry boom. Our aging population - wonderful weather - growing chain of top flight hospitals and research facilities - such as Burnham Institute for Medical Research in Orlando t- offer the road map for new growth and strong economic future.
Once we connect the state with a modern infrastructure system that quickly moves millions of visitors and residents alike from home to work or treatment - we have the makings of a secure economic future.
