On Friday, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced that the Tampa area’s unemployment rate was at 2.6 percent in March 2023, down 0.2 percentage point from the rate of 2.8 percent a year ago.
Tampa area private sector jobs were up 5.5 percent in March 2023, an increase of 71,600 jobs over the year. In March 2023, the Tampa area’s labor force was up 74,205 (+4.6 percent) over the year.
In March 2023, the Tampa area gained the highest number of private sector jobs among all metro areas over the year. The Tampa area also led all Florida metro areas in jobs gains over the year in education and health services (+18,700 jobs); professional and business services (+17,000 jobs); and construction (+5,300 jobs).
The industries gaining the most jobs over the year were education and health services, increasing by 18,700 jobs; professional and business services, increasing by 17,000 jobs; leisure and hospitality, increasing by 13,100 jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities, increasing by 11,100 jobs.
In March 2023, Florida’s unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the third consecutive month, which is 0.9 percentage point lower than the national rate of 3.5 percent. Florida’s labor force climbed by 250,000 (+2.3 percent) over the year and the unemployment rate has remained lower than the nation’s for 29 consecutive months.
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