More than one-third of all jobs created in the United States during the past five years have been created in Florida, according to Tax Watch Center for a Competitive Florida. Of the 2 million non-agricultural jobs created in the five-year period ending in October 2005, Florida added 688,600, or 34 percent, of the total in the nation.

Earlier this year, a Milken Institute report on where jobs are being created in the United States put 12 Florida metro areas among the nation’s top 30, including the top three metros — Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Cape Coral-Fort Meyers, and Naples-Marco Island.

The services industry is a large part of the Florida economy, and it is an industry that continues to grow.

A company that originates and consolidates college loans will receive up to $750,000 in state tax incentives during the next three years after agreeing to stay and expand its headquarters in the Tampa metro area.

Academic Financial Services (AFS), which has been in business for two years and employs about 330 workers in Tampa, will build a new headquarters facility.

The company writes about $70 million each month in federally guaranteed educational loans, said Wayne Morgan, president and CEO of AFS. About half of AFS’ business is college loan consolidation. The company also handles a small percentage of private educational loans.

Incentives were only one reason for the decision to remain in Tampa, Morgan said.

“The incentives in North Carolina were better,” he pointed out. “But the fact that we have phenomenal employees here who we might not have been able to take with us won us over.”

Morgan said he is considering several different sites for the new 120,000 square foot facility, all in the area surrounding the University of South Florida. The company expects to invest more than $19 million in construction and equipment for the new campus.

In return for incentives under Florida’s Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund program, AFS has agreed to add 250 employees during the next three years at an average annual pay of $45,000. The company must maintain those jobs for five years.

The company will add development and marketing jobs, Morgan said, as it expands its business and brings services like loan processing in house.

Services industry jobs are also growing in the Jacksonville metro area, where Fidelity National Financial and Washington Mutual are making expansion plans.

Fidelity National Financial, which relocated its corporate headquarters from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Jacksonville three years ago, announced plans to add an additional 800 jobs in the metro.

Fidelity National Information Services, the company’s information technology unit, will add 600 jobs and Fidelity National Financial corporate will add 200 jobs. The announcement represents a capital investment of more than $60 million and jobs with an average salary of more than $50,000.

Washington Mutual recently received approval for incentives from the Jacksonville City Council and the state, and it will begin plans to locate an East Coast regional operations center in the metro.

Manufacturer Puts Plant, HQ in Tallahassee

Citing a need to expand to meet rapidly growing customer demands, Danfoss Turbocor Compressors Inc., a manufacturer of oil-free centrifugal compressors, has relocated its headquarters and manufacturing plant to Tallahassee from Montreal.

Tallahassee’s large, highly educated work force, and its proximity to two seaports were key aspects of the site location decision.

Relocating plant operations to Florida is part of a global strategy to place manufacturing facilities in the markets served by Danfoss Turbocor, as well as to position operations to take advantage of high-tech resources, said Joe Orosz, president of the company.

The Tallahassee plant’s annual production capacity potential of more than 10,000 compressors — a production goal the company will exceed in the next several years — will allow Danfoss Turbocor to meet rapidly growing production demands, he pointed out.

“We needed a location that could support growth in a high-tech product both from development and manufacturing perspectives,” Orosz said. “In turn, we offered the advantage of being a major high-tech, non-polluting employer that will contribute many high-tech jobs. We are excited about this move and the potential it offers to both our company and our customers.”

Miami has become the focal point of regional headquarters for companies doing business in Latin America, and Nokia recently added to the roster.

The company has established its new headquarters for Latin America in Miami, with region-wide functions such as sales and marketing to be based at the facility.

“Latin America is one of the most important growth markets in the mobile communications industry, and Nokia’s aim is to continuously expand its presence and leadership in the region’s markets,” said Maurizio Angelone, senior vice president of customer and market operations for Nokia Latin America. “Miami’s proximity to Latin America, and its position as a regional transportation and communications hub make it the perfect location from which to better serve the needs of our customers in Latin America.”

The new offices, which opened in November, will occupy about 25,500 square feet in an enterprise zone. The company expects that the new regional headquarters will house close to 100 employees by the end of 2007.

Nokia currently employs more than 4,500 workers in Latin America and has operations in 11 of the region’s countries.

More than 1,000 multinational companies have a base of operations in the Miami-Dade County metro area, including recent expansions by Canada- and France-based companies. Accessibility through ports in South Florida to markets throughout the Western Hemisphere and a skilled, multicultural work force are among the reasons.

Logistics company AppleExpress, based in Missisauga, Ontario, has established an office in Miami-Dade County with the intent to penetrate markets in South America, the Caribbean and elsewhere.

During the next three years, AppleExpress will hire 45 fulltime employees and make a capital investment of about $1 million. The company will occupy about 30,000 square feet of space in West Miami-Dade County, with plans to expand to more than 75,000 square feet within three years.

AppleExpress is a rush delivery services company that specializes in next-flight-out service, rush ground service and critical parts storage. The company utilizes online applications to deliver versatile management solutions for secure order entry, tracking, monitoring and reporting on a shipment.

“With the world-class infrastructure and global accessibility Miami-Dade offers, we felt that this area was the perfect location for our office,” said Nasser Syed, president of AppleExpress. “Miami-Dade provides us the opportunity to penetrate markets in North America, South America and the Caribbean, as well as in Europe and Asia.”

France-based Science & Nature Cosmetics (SNC) opened its first office and distribution center in the United States in Miami-Dade County. The company specializes in lotions, creams, serums and other products for different ethnic backgrounds.

Again, access to markets in the Western Hemisphere was cited as reasons for the expansion.

“Miami-Dade offered the advantages of a multicultural community that makes it the ideal location for our first office in the United States,” said Joe Samaha, general manager of SNC. “The area’s unmatched accessibility to markets throughout North and South America, and its emergence as an international hub for commerce will allow our company to effectively expand our operations in this country and beyond.”

SNC plans to hire five employees within the next three years and make a capital investment of $250,000. In addition to its new office, the company will establish a distribution center at the Miami Free Zone in the city of Doral.