PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP)—Bay County is growing, and with that growth comes a need for jobs.
The Bay Economic Development Alliance is confident those jobs are on the way as several companies look to make our area their home.
“We have about eight that we classify as hot projects out of a list of 21 projects that we’re working at various stages,” said Becca Hardin, President of the Bay Economic Development Alliance.
We’re told these jobs range from advanced manufacturing, aviation-related logistics, port-related and more.
“It’s important for us to look at diversification of our economy, other types of jobs, so that we don’t have all of our eggs in the tourism basket,” said Hardin.
Hardin said creating jobs is important for our community.
“Primary jobs which typically leads to a spin-off of four or five secondary jobs,” said Hardin.
Bay EDA hopes to announce one project before the end of this year that will create 500 new jobs.
“We know that people move into our community every day,” said Hardin. It’s incumbent upon us to find good jobs for these people so that they can live and prosper and stay in our community.”
State chamber officials were at the EDA meeting Wednesday weighing in on Bay County’s economy.
“You’ve got a seaport, you’ve got an airport, you’ve got I-10, you can quickly move goods out the market we should be making more here, not just in Florida, but in Bay County,” said Frank Walker, executive vice president, government political relations, Florida Chamber of Commerce. “So that we can export it out to markets because those jobs aren’t just the immediate jobs.”
State chamber leaders expect by 2030 around 27,000 new people will live in Bay County.
to keep up, 11,000 new jobs will need to be created.
“So yes, you know 2030, I don’t know if we can get all of those jobs, but we’re certainly doing our best to get there,” said Hardin.
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