Metro area unemployment rate soars in April
June 3, 2020 - The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area unemployment rate was 13.1 percent in April. That was up significantly from the previous month, when unemployment was 4.3 percent, and from April 2019, when the unemployment rate was 3 percent. There were 187,052 people without a job in the Tampa-St. Pete metro in April, while 1.4 million people were employed, according to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statewide, the unemployement rate for Florida was 13.3 percent in April. Nationally, it was 14.4 percent. Unemployment soared locally and nationally due to the impact of COVID-19, BLS said.