Janelle Irwin Taylor
The Tampa area continued its streak of being the second highest job-creation center in the state, Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday.
Trailing behind only Orlando in jobs created, the Tampa area added 34,600 private sector jobs over the past year. Statewide, private businesses created 20,000 jobs in August.
Tampa’s unemployment in August was 3.6 percent, lower than the state’s rate of 3.7 percent. Tampa’s unemployment rate is down from 4.1 percent a year ago.
The Tampa area again had the highest number of jobs available, according to the latest data. There were nearly 44,000 job openings in August.
The area also ranked highest in the state for demand in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, jobs with more than 14,000 positions available last month.
The industries with the highest job growth over the past year include leisure and hospitality with 10,300 new jobs and education and health services with 8,100.
Statewide, 121,000 people entered Florida’s labor force, an indication that people who had given up on finding a job now have hope that jobs are available. The 1.2 percent rate of labor force reentry is nearly double the national rate of 0.7 percent.
