Broward employers eager to hire

Survey: County’s job growth strong

Eighty-two percent of Broward County employers who responded to a hiring survey say they plan to add to their work forces this year, but many are concerned about finding the right candidates.

The commitments to hire were greater this year than in surveys in the past two years. In 2016, a little more than 60 percent of the respondents said they would add employees. They year before, 58 percent said they would add to their payrolls.

The survey was conducted by the Fort Lauderdale CPA firm Kaufman Rossin. The results were presented Monday during the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance’s Mid-Year Meeting at Hyatt Regency Pier 66 hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

Seventy percent of the respondents said their businesses were doing better this year than last year, compared with 60 percent in 2016.

Slightly more than half of the employers said they plan to invest in employees by increasing wages and salaries and expanding training. There were 53 employers who participated in the survey.

Bob Swindell, president and CEO of the Alliance said Broward’s economy is “one of the strongest in the state and the nation.”

Broward added 27,800 jobs in March, a year over year increase of 3.4 percent, making it one of the top three regions in the state, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

In its mid-year report on company relocations and jobs created in Broward, the county’s publicprivate partnership for economic development said it assisted companies that invested $207 million in the county in the first half of the fiscal year, creating 1,075 new jobs and retaining 1,688 jobs.

Employers adding the most jobs were:

United Data Technologies, which is making a $16.5 million capital investment in Miramar, 142 new jobs;

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which made a $9 million investment in its Weston warehouse, 180 jobs;

Triangle Services, which is investing $4.8 million in its airplane baggage handling center in Fort Lauderdale, 300 jobs;

Bayview Financial in Fort Lauderdale, 200 jobs; and

Apotex Pharmaceuticals, which is investing $184 million in its new Miramar headquarters, 150 jobs.