TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Tampa Bay Area Unemployment Rate Improved Slightly In April

ADVERTISEMENT

By Michael Sasso

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 28, 2008

TAMPA - The Tampa Bay metro area lost 13,800 jobs from April 2007 to April of this year, but its unemployment rate improved slightly from March to April, new data released today show.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its metropolitan area employment estimates for April.

Nonagricultural employment in the Bay area fell by 1.1 percent over the year, or by 13,800 jobs, while Florida overall saw its nonagricultural employment fall by 0.8 percent, or by 63,900 jobs, over the same period.

The Bay area's unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in April, which is 1.3 percentage points higher than its unemployment rate in April 2007, which was 3.6 percent. However, April's unemployment rate improved from March's rate of 5.1 percent. By comparison, Florida's unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in April, compared to 3.5 percent in April 2007 and 4.8 percent in March.

Two Florida metropolitan areas, Cape Coral-Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, have the nation's fastest growing unemployment rates.

Last month, Cape Coral-Fort Myers' unemployment rate reached 6.4 percent, up 2.7 percentage points from a year earlier. Punta Gorda's unemployment rate last month hit 6.8 percent, which is up by 2.5 percentage points from a year ago. While they have the biggest year-over-year increases, neither area has near the nation's worst unemployment rate. That distinction goes to El Centro, Calif., which had an unemployment rate of 18.4 percent last month.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT