Lee executives bullish on economy

FORT MYERS — A large majority of executives in Lee County say economic conditions have improved in the first quarter over the same period last year and many plan to boost hiring.

According to a survey by Florida Gulf Coast University, 85% of executives forecast the economy will continue to improve this year and 56% plan to hire more people. Just 2% of those surveyed say they plan to cut staff.

Of the companies that plan to increase employment, 14% expect to increase their workforce size by 1% to 9%; 34% expect to increase by 10% to 19%; and 32% expect to increase by 20% to 29%.

Despite the positive outlook, 56% of executives indicated that they were having trouble finding qualified employees. Just more than half of executives indicated that the preferred recruiting method is networking and 18% preferred Internet job websites.

The positions that companies are having trouble filling include assistant engineers, banking and commercial lending managers, cashiers and counter sales, design engineers, drivers, computer network technicians, fabricators, housekeepers and service staff, insurance sales and support, machinists, managers, experienced nurse practitioners, sales, construction trades, water resource engineers and web development and application technicians.