JAXUSA Supports Creation of Hundreds of Jobs in Region and $117M in Capital Investment in Six Months
The latest announcement includes Citibank adding 400 new jobs at its campus in South Jacksonville. These jobs range from back office services to underwriting. Citibank’s new jobs as well as the other company announcements come at a time when the local economy is growing and momentum is building.
“These projects involved the creation of new jobs and investment in our city and region, and are evidence of an economy that is greatly improving,” said JAXUSA Partnership Chair Robert Hill, who is president and CEO of Acosta Inc. “Residents and businesses are seeing the positive changes, and we anticipate continued optimistic announcements in the days and weeks ahead. We currently have 54 active qualified prospects in the pipeline with the potential to create a thousand more jobs in our region.”
Citibank’s 400 new jobs and the other jobs created and retained are helping improve the region’s unemployment rate. The April 2012 rate was 7.9 percent, which is down from 9.1 percent in January 2012 and 9.8 percent in April 2011.
According to JAXUSA Partnership, the hottest industries for job growth are health care, IT, aviation and aerospace, and financial services. Announcements since January 2012 about job growth in Jacksonville include:
National Healing Corporation – 69 new jobs, 89 retained jobs
Web.com – 200 new jobs
BI-LO and Winn-Dixie – 200 new jobs, 891 retained jobs
GE Capital – 220 new jobs
Citibank – 400 new jobs
Novitas Solutions – 250 new jobs
2G-Cenergy Power Systems Technologies, Inc. – 125 new jobs
Latitude Software – 30 new jobs, 41 retained jobs
Caterpillar Work Tools – 39 new jobs, 77 retained jobs
Definitive Design – 30 new jobs
KCI Aviation – 30 new jobs
Mayo Clinic – 400 new jobs
The 2012 job growth and creation represents a capital investment of about $117 million. In 2011, JAXUSA Partnership announced 14 new projects, adding more than 2,300 jobs to the region and exceeding its capital investment goal of more than $100 million.
“The resurgence of our local economy is creating a sense of pride and excitement in the business community, and helping to fuel additional job growth,” said Jerry Mallot, president of JAXUSA Partnership. “Our continued focus is to accelerate job growth and economic development for the benefit of the community.”