Report: SWFL workforce readiness improves, early education remains subpar

The FutureMakers Coalition, a group of business, nonprofit and civic leaders in Southwest Florida, is inching its way toward its three goals of transforming the region’s workforce, closing a higher education gap and reversing brain drain where the young people who are educated here leave to work somewhere else. 

And while its most recent comprehensive study, the 2023 Southwest Florida Educational and Workforce Outcomes Report, highlights some of that progress, it’s also a glimpse into some glaring weaknesses — notably in early and elementary school education. 

Workforce Now, a research initiative that studies the regional workforce and is made up of researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida SouthWestern State College and FutureMakers Coalition, conducted the study and published the 121-page report. It looks at demographics, education, occupations, employment gaps and projected job growth, using local, state and federal data.