See what kind of companies are adding the most jobs in metro Tampa

December 13, 2016

Margie Manning | Tampa Bay Business Journal

Companies in the professional and business services industry added 10,200 new jobs in the Tampa metropolitan area in the 12 months ended Oct. 31.

There were 234,400 jobs in the sector as of the end of October, more than any other industry in Tampa Bay, according to a new economic indicators report from the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

Education and health services businesses added 6,900 jobs, and hospitality and leisure companies add 5,400 jobs year-over-year.

As of Oct. 31, there were 1,296,600 people employed in all sectors in the Tampa metro, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier. The Tampa metro area had the highest annual job growth of any metro area in the state, according to the EDC.

See the full report here.

Jobs are key to economic growth in the community, which was hit hard by the recession. The unemployment rate, which climbed to 11.7 percent in late 2009 and early 2010, stood at 4.6 percent in Hillsborough County in October, the EDC said.

There are mixed signals in other economic indicators in the EDC report.

Building permits for single family homes in Hillsborough County dropped 6.7 percent in October 2016 compared to October 2015 although they are up 15.2 percent year to date.

Closed single-family home sale s also dropped slightly in October 2016 compared to a year ago, but average sales prices are up 13.4 percent, to $266,190 as of October 2016.

The total number of passengers traveling through Tampa International Airport was down 1.4 percent from last year. However, cargo weight is up 24 percent, and that number is expected to grow over the holidays as online buyers ship goods bought from Amazon, the EDC said.