We're no longer No. 1 and that may be a good thing, at least to some local observers.
A year ago, a report by the Milken Institute ranked the Volusia-Flagler area the nation's most improved local economy in the nation.
The California-based economic think-tank ranked the "Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach" metro area that comprises all of Volusia and Flagler counties as 69th in its 2016 "Best-Performing Cities" list of the 200 largest metro areas in the country.
The rankings are based on various economic factors including job and wage growth as well as gross domestic product output.
Milken Institute's latest Best-Performing Cities rankings have the "Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach" improving 23 places to 46th best.
The cities our area leapfrogged over include Jacksonville, whose ranking fell from 39th best in 2016 to 50th best in the 2017 list.
While Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach area didn't make Milken Institute's latest top 25 most improved list, local economy watcher Kent Sharples, president of the CEO Business Alliance, said this past year's gains, in his view, were more impressive.
"When you're at the bottom, it's much easier to improve," he said, adding that Milken Institute's 2017 ranking for our area "may be even better news because now we're among the top 50."
The Milken Institute's latest rankings were determined before the release of several new year-end reports, both from Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity, Volusia County, area builders and Realtors associations, and Experian, all showing even further gains in the local economy.
Unemployment in both Volusia and Flagler counties is now the lowest since 2006, housing starts have risen to the highest level since 2006 as well, median sale prices for existing single-family homes continues to rise, passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport in 2017 set a new 21-year high, and sales of new cars and trucks in the two-county area rose to a new record high as well, as have tourism bed-tax collections.
But while the local economy continues to improve, one area that continues to lag is overall wages which remain stagnant.
One of the solutions is making training programs available that can make job seekers more employable and that address what area companies across a wide range of industries, including construction and manufacturing, say is a growing shortage of available skilled workers. It's an issue that CareerSource Flagler Volusia, Daytona State College and others, including the VMA manufacturing alliance and Volusia Building Industry Association, have been working to address.
Another key is to attract more companies to the area that can create higher-paying jobs.
That's something that the CEO Business Alliance, a group of local business leaders, has made its mission, along with Team Volusia Economic Development Corp. and the economic development departments for both Volusia and Flagler counties.
"There's no such thing as status quo. You're either going up or you're going down," Sharples said of the ongoing economic development efforts.
The bottom line, he added, is to be "continually improving," not how we stack up compared to other parts of the country. "Are we better off than we were last year? I think we all know the answer is yes."
To read the Milken Institute's full report on the 2017 Best-Performing Cities, visit milkeninstitute.org
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
The following are new economic data reports issued this past week:
AREA HOME SALES
Number of existing single-family homes sold and the median sale price:
Volusia County
December 2017: 771; $190,000
December 2016: 724; $169,900
Flagler County
December 2017: 218; $230,000
December 2016: 201; $231,000
SOURCES: Florida Realtors; Flagler County Association of Realtors
AREA AUTO SALES
Number of new cars and trucks sold in the Volusia-Flagler area:
December 2017: 3,255
December 2016: 3,097
2017 (full year): 40,736 (new record high)
2016 (full year): 38,841 (previous record high)
SOURCE: Experian
AIRPORT PASSENGER TRAFFIC
Number of airline travelers counted on incoming and outgoing flights at Daytona Beach International Airport and year-over-year percentage change:
December 2017: 56,038 -0.7%
December 2016: 56,349
2017 (full calendar year): 720,825 (highest since 1996) +1.86%
2016 (full calendar year): 707,657
SOURCE: Volusia County
Clayton Park can be reached at clayton.park@news-jrnl.com or at 386-681-2470.