Tampa-St. Pete jobless rate ticks up
September 20, 2019 - The Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area jumped slightly in August to 3.5 percent, from 3.4 percent in July. Job demand continued to be strong however, with the area adding 21,300 new private-sector jobs in the last year, according to an announcement from Gov. Ron DeSantis. The industries with the highest growth over the year in the Tampa area were professional and business services with 6,000 new jobs and construction with 5,200 new jobs. There were 58,697 job openings in the Tampa area in August, including 18,471 openings in high-skill, high-wage STEM occupations.