Collier Ranked Among Best Places for Employee Benefits

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Friday, Aug. 30

COLLIER RANKED AMONG BEST PLACES FOR EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Collier County has ranked No. 5 on SmartAsset’s Best Places for Employee Benefits list in Florida. The new study from the New York financial technology company measured the unemployment rate and cost of living in each county as well as the percentage of the population securing health insurance and retirement funds through their employer. Collier County was listed with an unemployment rate of 5.30%, health insurance coverage rate of 32.76%, cost of living rate of 61.20%, and retirement savings contribution of 51.97%, resulting in a Best Places for Employee Benefits Index of 43.12. Additional study details including the methodology and interactive map can be found here. 

Thursday, Aug. 29

COLLIER NAMED AMONG BEST PLACES TO SAVE IN STATE

Collier County has ranked No. 8 in SmartAsset’s Best Places to Save in Florida study. Media household income was listed at $62,407, with a cost of living of $36,858, purchasing power of 1.69, and estimated tax rate of 13.13%, resulting in a Best Places to Save Index of

49.36. For more information on the study, including methodology and more Southwest Florida rankings, visit https://smartasset.com/checking-account/bank-reviews#florida.

Wednesday, Aug. 28

CAPE CORAL-FORT MYERS SETS RECORD EXPORT LEVELS

Cape Coral-Fort Myers was among the 13 metro areas in the Southern region to set record export levels in the 2018 goods export data for the nation’s 392 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), announced by Gilbert Kaplan, Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade. Cape Coral-Fort Myers export levels grew by 13 percent from $592.3 million in 2017 to $668 million in 2018. Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metro area export levels increased from $227 million in 2017 to $238.8 million in 2018. The report also showed U.S. metro areas exported $1.5 trillion in merchandise across the world last year. From 2017 to 2018, exports from MSAs increased $110.3 billion–or 8.1 percent, and 259 metropolitan areas reported positive export growth, with 94 reaching record-level exports. For more information, click 

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Tuesday, Aug. 27

RSW REPORTS RECORD-BREAKING JULY

During July, 570,977 passengers traveled through Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, an increase of 1.8% compared with July 2018. Year-to-date, passenger traffic is up 8.7% compared with last year. The traffic leader in July was Delta Air Lines with 150,177 passengers traveling to and from Fort Myers. Rounding out the top five airlines were Southwest (113,081), American (97,112), JetBlue (64,261) and United (48,590). Southwest Florida International Airport had 4,675 aircraft operations, a decrease of 1% compared with July 2018. Page Field saw 9,343 operations, a 31.6% increase from July 2018. In addition, nearly 2.9 million pounds of air freight moved through Southwest Florida International Airport in July 2019.

Monday, Aug. 26

NABOR REPORT: CLOSED SALES INCREASE IN JULYHeightened showing activity in June led to a spike in July’s closed sales, which increased 7.1 percent to 829 closed sales compared to 774 closed sales during July 2018, according to the July 2019 Market Report released by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS (NABOR), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island). Despite a 14.8 percent reduction in overall inventory compared to last July, overall median closed prices have not increased. To view the entire report, visit 

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Publicly Traded Companies

CHICO’S REPORTS Q2 NET LOSS

Chico’s FAS Inc. has announced its financial results for the fiscal 2019 second quarter ended Aug. 3. For the 13-week period, the company reported a net loss of $2.3 million, or $0.02 loss per diluted share, compared with net income of $16.8 million, or $0.13 earnings per diluted share, for the 13 weeks ended Aug. 4, 2018. For the 26 weeks ended Aug. 3, the company reported a net loss of $0.3 million, or $0.00 earnings per diluted share, compared to net income of $45.8 million, or $0.36 earnings per diluted share, for the 26 weeks ended Aug. 4, 2018.

In other news…

Check out our 2019 Best of Business Award winners here.

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