Rising wages key to Tampa Bay’s evolution as a top market for talent
July 28, 2022
Earlier this week, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported that the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater MSA is third in the nation for wage growth among large metro areas. Financial research web site Smartest Dollar noted that our region had a 9 percent increase in average weekly wages in 2021, or a 2 percent increase when adjusted for inflation.
This is excellent news for our market and an essential aspect of our ability to attract and retain the talent we need to fuel the growth of our target industries as well as our hospitality and leisure sector. But it’s also a sign that Tampa Bay is truly changing in terms of its core identity as a labor market. Our economy continues to diversify and new professionals from across the country move into our state each week. The higher pay we’re seeing across industry categories is making our region as a whole more competitive. We’ve come a long way from the days when Florida’s labor force was ‘paid in sunshine.’
At this EDC, we are deeply committed to our mission to bring higher paying jobs and investment into Tampa and Hillsborough County. As a marketing organization, everything we do is designed to help update perceptions about the quality of people and companies that can be found here, as well as our quality of place. That long term, consistent strategy has paid off. But there’s lots more work to be done to ensure that those of us who are not accessing better paying opportunities can get the skills and assistance they need to do so. Which is why the mission of our Tampa Bay Economic Prosperity Foundation is more important than ever.
As we prepare for our August board meeting, we are looking back on the success of our FY20-22 Opportunity Tampa Bay Strategic Action plan and looking ahead to how we can move the needle on prosperity for our community over the next three years. Our Investors and the EDC team are excited about this challenge. Stay tuned – I’ll let you know where we are headed next month!
Craig
