Tampa-St. Pete unemployment continues to drop
January 24, 2020 - The unemployment rate in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area in December was 2.6 percent, down 0.6 percentage point from a year ago. The metro area added 30,700 new private-sector jobs in the last year, creating the second-highest number of jobs among all Florida metro areas, a news release from Gov. Ron DeSantis said. The professional and business services sector had the highest growth, with 7,500 new jobs. Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 3 percent in December, down 0.1 percentage point from November and down 0.3 percentage point from a year ago. It's the first time since 1976 Florida recorded an unemployment rate below 3 percent.The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in December.