Economic Diversity

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the city of San Jose, CA, and its efforts to diversify its economic base. This initially struck us as odd, as San Jose is the headquarters city of such well-known technology firms as Cisco Systems, eBay, and Adobe. As it turns out, that concentration on technology jobs didn't work out so well for the San Jose area earlier this decade, when the technology slowdown cut 10% of the jobs in the city, and reduced the city's tax revenues by 27% in one year.

The city decided it wanted to become a core for the "clean tech" sector, which includes alternative energy sources and energy efficiency products. In order to attract businesses in this industry, the city rolled out the typical inducements like expedited business permits, and employee training grants. The city then took it a step further. They launched a fund to invest in local fast-growing tech companies. They hired an economic development staffer dedicated to the clean-tech industry. Finally, they adopted policies to drive local demand for clean-tech products, including a policy requiring new municipal buildings to be built to energy-efficient "green" standards, and a development center to promote vehicles using renewable energy.

Return the focus to Osceola County. Our largest individual employers are government agencies. Our largest employment industry is the service industry, primarily focused on tourism. Could a reduction in tax revenue, an economic recession, or a tourism slowdown lead to a 10% employee reduction in either of those employment groups?

With the recent realignment of the county's Economic Development and Convention and Visitors Bureau under a single manager, are we becoming more economically diverse? What are we, as a community, doing to attract more diverse employers to our area?