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Tampa's Economy Falls To Last Place In Regional Survey

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By Michael Sasso of The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 19, 2008

Updated: 05/19/2008 04:56 pm

TAMPA - Continued job losses helped propel the Tampa Bay area's economy to last place in a ranking of six Southern cities, according to a new report by the Tampa Bay Partnership.

The semi-annual report, released today, ranked the Tampa Bay region against five other metro areas: Jacksonville; Atlanta; Dallas; and Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. The partnership, an economic development organization, ranks the cities on various economic indicators to determine whether the Bay area is rising or falling in economic vitality.

For now, the latter is true. According to recent economic data, the Bay area came in at sixth place out of the cities for the spring 2008 period. That's down from fourth place in the partnership's last ranking, for the fall 2007 period.

The organization chalks up the falling ranking to a worsening employment situation in the Bay area.

Housing also continued to drag down the Bay area.

According to the partnership's ranking, the Bay area's rental affordability ratio and single-family-home affordability ratio ranked last, compared to the other cities. A somewhat dubious achievement this quarter is that the Bay area no longer ranks last in housing permit growth rate. The Bay area now ranks third, with a 35.3 percent drop in housing permits issued. Atlanta and Charlotte, with drops of 50.3 percent and 37 percent, respectively, were slower.

Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865 or msasso@tampatrib.com.

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