Kelly Smallridge is the President of Palm Beach County’s Business Development Board. Eight years ago she launched an initiative to make Palm Beach the “Wall Street of the south”. Now with the pandemic forcing many employers to shift to remote operations, this is becoming a reality. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown many organizations and employees that they can successfully complete their jobs from their homes with increased productivity while cutting costs.
According to Smallridge, five large financial service firms and 8 other businesses have moved to the area since the start of the pandemic. As a matter of fact, in the near future two companies will be announcing the creation of at least 600 new jobs in Palm Beach County.
South Florida talent pool?
A natural question one might have is whether or not South Florida has the talent pool to fill many of these high profile financial jobs? The short answer is yes. As a matter of fact, there has always been an incredible talent pool in South Florida. Furthermore, this talent pool has increased ten-fold since the start of the pandemic.
Companies such as Virtu Financial have recently announced a move from Manhattan, NY to Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Many of their employees have already relocated and begun to enjoy the South Florida lifestyle.
Summary
South Florida has long been an attraction for retirees and those looking for a vacation home. With this said, the tropical climate combined with a lack of a state income tax is quite attractive to many companies. Of course, even if organizations are not relocating to The Sunshine State, many remote employees are. Leveraging the various technologies is allowing the workforce to truly live where they prefer to. The South Florida real estate market has been considerably strong for quite some time. We expect this to continue, particularly as more companies relocate to Florida bringing more jobs.
Are you ready to relocate to South Florida? We can help. Live South Florida Realty, Inc. has real estate professionals ready to assist you in Palm Beach, Broward, & Dade counties!