Before setting up new career and technical institutes, Pasco and Hernando counties joined forces to see what focus the community and businesses see as the needs. They hired the Haas Center at the University of West Florida, which helped guide the pioneering effort in Okaloosa County, to survey parents and civic leaders about their views of the area's future in the world of high-skills, high-wage jobs.

The survey is now complete. And although officials have more research to do before proposing a new set of academies, they have released what they're calling "points of interest" from the Haas report. Maybe there are some clues in there, so we share them with you.

Among the highlights, the Haas Center found:

• Health care and social assistance jobs will increase about 25 percent, or about 6,000 jobs, over the next seven years.
• Administrative and waste services jobs and retail trade also are expected to grow by about 6,000 jobs over the same period.
• "Soft" skills, such as appearance and dependability, need improvement among existing workers entering the job force.
• Parents listed computer programming, computer-assisted design and graphic arts as the three top areas of interest.
• About 43 percent of Pasco residents commute to Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, where growth is expected in administrative services, health care, real estate and professional/technical services.