The Workforce Investment Board forum held a discussion in Santa Barbara on May 11 in regards to what industries are seeing job growth, and invited Beneflex's own Lesa Caputo to speak in the discussion panel. A summary of the discussion can be read in the article below:
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"Josh Williams, president of BW Research Partnership Inc., conducted the most recent study on county "industry clusters" so that the board could understand what hiring trends are occurring to bring the area out of the recession."
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"After William's remarks, a panel discussed which industries are growing and which are shrinking. The panel included Lesa Caputo of Beneflex, JM Holliday & Associates project manager Michelle Swanitz, Riverbench Vineyard General Manager Laura Mohseni, emPower SBC manager Angela Hacker, Impulse Advanced Communications President Dave Clark and Santa Barbara City College Acting President Jack Friedlander.
"Industry clusters represent a better way of segmenting and understanding the economy rather than just trying to look at it from a general perspective," Williams said in remarks after his speech. Even though the county still had an 8.9 percent unemployment rate in March, some industries are hiring more workers, he said, while discounting the notion of a "jobless recovery," as some economists have called current conditions.
Six industry clusters, including tourism, energy and environment, health care, agriculture and wineries, technology, business support services, and building and design were targeted in Williams' study. Of these, he said, technology, energy and building industries will expand through 2015."
