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Marks mixed for bay area economy
The region is tied for second but ranks last in affordable housing and salary in a study comparing it to five metro areas.
By STEVE HUETTEL
Published January 13, 2006
TAMPA - How does the Tampa Bay area stack up economically against competing metro areas?
Tops in new job creation and wage growth. Dead last in average salary and affordable housing. Surprisingly well in education.
The results came from the region's first economic scorecard released Thursday by the Tampa Bay Partnership. Leaders of the regional economic development group called the six-month project a no-spin effort to examine the area's competitive pros and cons.
"It's important that this is a region willing to look at itself and work on areas it sees as its weaknesses," said Bill Habermeyer, chief executive of Progress Energy Florida and former partnership chairman.
The group compared the Tampa Bay area to five comparable regional areas that compete for business relocations: Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C., and Jacksonville.
The region tied with Raleigh/Durham for No. 2 behind Charlotte.
But the score has little meaning beyond bragging rights, said Gwen Mitchell, managing partner for the Tampa office of accounting firm Deloitte, which oversaw the project. The real value for local leaders, said Mitchell, comes from drilling into how the Tampa Bay area compares in specific economic measures.
The region scored at the top in jobs created (51,400) for the third quarter of last year, ahead of No. 2 Dallas (27,900). The bay area also had the best average wage increase (3.3 percent) and unemployment rate (3.7 percent). But the region's average annual salary was last at $32,962. The area also ranked last in housing "affordability," a ratio of household income to home prices and rental rates.
Education was a bright spot. The region was second, thanks to a No. 2 ranking in mean SAT scores and decent scores for high school graduation rates (75.4 percent) and college degrees awarded.
Partnership staff will update the statistics and rankings each quarter, Habermeyer said.
RESULTS ONLINE
Read the report at www.tampabay.org
[Last modified January 13, 2006, 01:45:18]
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