With labor markets continuing to tighten, Florida businesses are glad to hear that the state's population growth is expected to increase by 1.5 percentthis year, especially since job growthis estimated at 2.9 percent.

The Port of Miami is a major draw for the many companies looking to distribute to and receive products from the growing Latin American markets.

You don't have to look very hard to realize the role that Florida is playing in the U.S. and
emerging global economy.

With a Gross State Product of US$380.6 billion, the Sunshine State has the fifth largest economy among the states, behind only California ($1 trillion), New York ($651.7 billion), Texas ($601.6 billion) and Illinois ($393.5 billion). Ask analysts about Florida's attraction, and they give the standard answer that has explained the state's allure since Henry Morrison Flagler discovered and started serious development of the state in the early 20th century: sun and beach.

Those elements are a powerful draw, and they explain why tourism is the state's largest industry, accounting for a record 58.9 million visitors in 1999. Florida's yearly guests pour millions into state coffers in sales and other taxes and spare full-time residents of having to pay state income taxes.

Analysts say that the absence of a personal income tax is a prime reason that Florida is able to attract a growing legion of workers and new and expanding industry.

With 15.1 million people, Florida is the third most populous state in the nation, but analysts point to its high concentration of low-paying, tourism-related service-sector jobs as the reason that it ranked 19th in per capita personal income ($28,023) in 1999. The relatively low-income levels, however, are good news for employers, who find it cheaper to operate in Florida.

"Business and professional services are probably the fastest growing job sectors in Florida," says Mark Vitner, an economist and vice president at First Union Bank in Charlotte, N.C. "Florida creates a lot of new jobs every year, more high-paying jobs than other states in the Southeast. Computer, data processing and information-technology jobs are growing at an annual rate of 15 percent in Florida."

Dr. David G. Lenze, an economist with the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida, predicts Florida's job growth to be 2.9 percent this year, compared to a U.S. average of 2 percent.

"Florida grows faster than the rest of the country, and we expect that to continue for the foreseeable future," Lenze says. "But there's a lot of variation around the state."

Lenze also predicts that Florida's population, a key indicator of job growth, will increase 1.5 percent this year, compared to a U.S. average of 0.9 percent.

"I don't think Florida is in what you would normally call a boom period," Lenze says. "In the 1980s, the population growth never fell below 2.5 percent a year. Florida's growing slower than that now, but it's still one of the fastest growing states in the country."

Florida's service sector represents the largest single piece of the state's employment pie, accounting for 34.8 percent of all jobs. That category, of course, covers a wide range of jobs, from waitress and hotel workers to high-end financial jobs and computer software developers. Next come the retail trades, which account for 20.9 percent of all the state's jobs. Those two employment segments reflect the importance of tourism, but the mushrooming service sector hints at other things as well: a turn toward high-tech jobs.

In some ways, Florida is like most other states. Though it will continue to promote its advantages in geography and climate to tourists, Florida is also working to diversify its economy. High-tech industry is springing up all around the state, many on the Gold Coast, which runs from West Palm Beach to Miami, and in Orlando. Most of the computer and software companies that are sprouting in those areas are pointedly being encouraged by government, but they largely reflect a growing entrepreneurial spirit and lightening advances in technology.

Indeed, earlier this year, the three Gold Coast counties (Palm Beach, Broward and Dade), which traditionally have battled for new industry, signed a pact to cooperate in developing and marketing a high-tech corridor that's being called the InternetCoast.

Meanwhile, the state's five main ports make ocean shipping a thriving business for imports and exports coming to or being shipped from the Southeast. Add to that mix the state's geographic location and the cultural advantages that come with an increasingly multicultural society, and South Florida rightfully claims to be the gateway to burgeoning trade opportunities in the Caribbean and Latin America.