We've got sunshine and beauty in spades, but our economy isn't keeping up with rival regions in the South, a new study by the Tampa Bay Partnership shows.
The Tampa Bay area's economy is no better than fifth out of six Southern metropolitan regions, ahead of only Jacksonville, the study shows.
Leaders of the Tampa Bay Partnership, a regional economic development group, say they're working on a plan to bring more high-paying jobs to the area by developing the right industries. Still, that seems more of a long-term fix than a short-term solution to high unemployment and a weak housing market.
The partnership issues a Regional Economic Scorecard twice a year, comparing the Bay area with five other Southern metropolitan areas: Jacksonville, Atlanta, Dallas and Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
The study doesn't sugarcoat the local problems and has ranked the Bay area's economy last or next-to-last in its last four semiannual scorecards.
To be sure, there is some good news in the scorecard issued Tuesday. For example, the Tampa Bay area added 15,500 jobs between fall 2010 and fall 2011. Only Dallas added more jobs among the six Southern cities, growing by 65,800 jobs.
However, the Bay area's improvements weren't enough to keep pace with its rivals, accounting for its fifth place overall. Among the study's findings:
- Mediocre jobs market. The Bay area ranks only fourth out of the six metro areas in the employment and workforce category.
It added jobs, which was a plus. But the Bay area still suffered from the highest unemployment rate of the six metro areas, averaging 11.16 percent during the study period. Raleigh-Durham enjoyed the best unemployment rate, at just 8.41 percent.
- Lagging innovation. The Bay area ranked only fifth in the study's innovation category, which measures how much university research a community performs and how much venture capital it wins.
The Bay area, for example, attracted $10.89 in venture capital per quarter for every worker in the region. That badly trails the category leader, Raleigh-Durham, which landed $83.02 per quarter for every worker.
- Improving transportation. The Bay area actually finished first out of the six metro areas in the transportation category, which measures drivers' commute times, mass transit ridership and people's expenditures on transportation.
However, some caveats likely boosted the region's transportation rating. For example, the rating doesn't include spending on auto insurance, which is traditionally high in Florida. Adjusted for these caveats, the Bay area would have ranked fourth in transportation.
