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Digest
Talk of the bay
By TIMES WIRES
Published January 23, 2007
MONSTER INDEX: HOUSING MARKET WEIGHS ON JOBS Is Tampa-St. Petersburg's cooling housing market spilling over onto the labor market? That's the suggestion of the Monster "local employment index" for December, a monthly measure of online job demand in this metro area (and 27 others). This area's December index dropped three points to finish at 100, the lowest score of the year and one point higher than a year ago. What jobs were hot? Food preparation and serving, reflecting staffing needs among area hotels and restaurants for the winter tourism season. In contrast, jobs in construction, building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; installation, maintenance, and repair all dipped to their lowest levels of the year. The conclusion: Look for a more moderate pace of job growth in the first quarter of 2007. Monster, an online job recruiter, and the St. Petersburg Times recently formed a partnership to serve people looking for work in the Tampa Bay area. Weird signs are Connerton's fault The giant faces staring blankly at you from billboards along Tampa Bay area highways are enough to give you the willies. But there's method in the madness. It's a new teaser campaign by Connerton, the Pasco County development destined to be the Tampa Bay area's biggest. The baffling billboard - just a head shot without words or logos - has appeared on such roads as U.S. 41. After letting confusion reign a few weeks, developers will paste up a punch line. "It will make sense - eventually," Connerton publicist Justin Conrad said. Guess it beats "Homes For Sale." St. Pete aquarium starts renovations The Pier Aquarium in downtown St. Petersburg has closed until Feb. 2 while three big new saltwater fish tanks are installed as part of a $100,000 renovation. Being replaced are the last three tanks that date from the facility's opening in 1988. One, an 860-gallon aquarium, will provide a permanent home for the aquarium's touch-tank experience, stocked with sharks, rays, mollusks, lobster, crabs, starfish and urchins. The aquarium, which hosted 206,000 paying visitors in 2006, is operated by a nonprofit company on the second floor of the Pier. The aquarium also plans scheduled daily presentations and fish feedings when the facility reopens. All about money Times personal finance editor Helen Huntley talks about money topics and answers your finance questions at blogs.tampabay.com/money.
[Last modified January 23, 2007, 00:05:20]
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