Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

1. LinkedIn is a popular social media website that is utilized to connect people with companies looking to hire. According to Freight Waves, the #1 source for navigating the freight markets, data from LinkedIn shows that there has been an economic trend in an increasing number of people being hired for the transportation industry. This means that there is an opportunity for people looking for work to be hired if they have the skills to fill a transportation or logistics sector job. I believe that this opportunity exists because LinkedIn in presents data in the article that states that hiring in the economy is now 2.9% higher than at this point nationally last year. This increase may seem small, but when looking at jobs nationally this shows that there actually is an opportunity out there for people to find work. This opportunity is relatively easy to exploit given that people are capable to hold these types of jobs. With the U.S. population growing, this means that more people are trying to travel across places, which correlates with the fact that people working for the transportation sector are in high demand to ensure that people's needs will be satisfied.
I see this opportunity existing because I have noticed first-hand the increasing demand of people traveling around the United States. With the number of people increasing as they want to get places, this opens the opportunity for people to find jobs in the transportation sector as they try to control traffic and make the process go as smoothly as possible for consumers of the roads. \


2. According to Eater, a media outlet website for various types of stories across the United States, American Farmers are in a crisis. It was reported that small farmers are struggling to maintain their lifestyle, and more famers are becoming suicidal due to the increasing pressure. This information leads me to the belief that there needs to be an opportunity to better protect our farmers, so that we can collectively sustain ourselves. The median farm income has declined over the past years, to it's lowest level since 2002. This opportunity to support our farmers is most likely to start with a focus in aid coming from the government, followed by making consumers aware of supporting their local farmers. This is a relatively difficult opportunity because if we could just go out there and make sure that farmers were not struggling to provide support for their families then the process would have already been completed. In other words, we must work in our communities to stop this trend of farmers experiencing crises and ensure that everyone sustains their lifestyle for the best.
I see this opportunity existing because of how I am a consumer and have noticed that people do not support their local farmer these days. Many times people buy commercially rather than at local markets, which means that they do not understand the impact that farmers are experiencing.


3. According to a new book titled Sites Unseen: Uncovering Hidden Hazards in American Cities, we have often overlooked the environmental destruction that businesses have been creating. This means that we need to have regulatory changes to ensure that businesses properly dispose of the waste that they create. There are plenty of databases out there about the Toxic Release Inventory, but loopholes have been created to let businesses squeeze by under the radar. For example, if a business releases less than a certain amount of pollution annually, then they are exempted from reporting any type of releases that they made. The customer that is most likely to pick up on this opportunity to make regulatory changes for the disposal of waste that businesses create are citizens that care about are environment. Many of the actions we do daily have some type of environmental destruction, but this is an idea that we can not just let business sweep things under the rug. This is a relatively difficult idea to exploit though because making these regulatory changes would require lots of politics and that means that lots of time and discussions would need to take place before any type of law was created.
I see this opportunity existing because I realize how businesses are growing in Gainesville, but there is no broadcasted information on what they do with their waste they create.


4. According to the Washington Post, injuries from scooter crashes are increasing across the country. Scooters are a very popular form of transportation here in Gainesville, but I think that there needs to be some regulatory changes with them. I believe that an opportunity presents itself for more training to be required when people first get their scooters so that they can better understand the dynamics of the vehicle. Things such as safety classes, driving tests, and helmet requirements should be installed so that we can ensure the well-being of our citizens. Students at the University of Florida are most likely to be the prototypical customer of this opportunity because of the popular mode of transportation that scooters are on campus. I think that this idea is relatively easy to exploit because many parents want to make sure that their children are safe when they ride their scooters, so support can be quickly found.
I see this opportunity because I am a student at the University of Florida, where scooter transportation is so popular, but so are the number of injuries that occur from it. I know many people that have experienced injuries from riding their scooter on campus, so I believe that regulatory changes need to be made to require people to take scooter training courses.