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Letter to the editor

Talk of the Bay: We're churning out jobs, albeit more slowly

If corporate recruitment is any indication, the jobs engine is still humming in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, but it's humming at a lower pitch in 2007 than in 2006.

By Times Staff
Published October 28, 2007

We're churning out jobs, albeit more slowly

If corporate recruitment is any indication, the jobs engine is still humming in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, but it's humming at a lower pitch in 2007 than in 2006. In its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Pinellas' economic development office reported capturing 14 projects that created or retained 1,672 jobs paying an average of $51,902. Hillsborough's fiscal year is still incomplete, but as of Sept. 1 the county lured 10 projects with 1,287 jobs paying an average of $48,100. The field of professional and business services led among job creators. Significantly, the jobs pay well above the Tampa Bay area's average of about $37,200.

Bone-crunching action comes to TV

Now, you can watch local guys beat the snot out of each other from the comfort of your living room. Bonecrunch Fighting, a mixed martial arts league that was incorporated in January by Sarasota entrepreneur Andrew Andrew Neitlich, said last week its 2008 season will be broadcast by FightZone TV. The fights will air on SunSports Network, which is owned by Fox Sports Network, and will reach more than 6-million Florida homes and more than 2-million national subscribers of DirecTV and the Dish Network. Mixed martial arts, or MMA, is an almost-anything-goes form of fighting that combines jiu jitsu, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing and wrestling. The Bonecrunch league has eight teams, including the Tampa Terrors. If you'd rather watch Bonecrunch fights in person, the first round will be Jan. 12 at Lakeland Center and Feb. 9 at Sarasota's Robarts Arena. For more information, visit www.bonecrunchfighting.com.

Working moms, this place likes you

Baptist Health South Florida in Coral Gables often earns kudos for its workplace policies. This month, it was chosen by Working Mother magazine as one of the country's 10 best companies to work for. About three-quarters of its 11,000-plus employees are women; nearly a third have kids younger than 12. So the business is wise to cater to moms: Three of its six hospitals have on-site day care centers, 47 percent of employees utilize flexible schedules, and 31 percent work part time or job share. One other Florida company, a Boca Raton accounting firm called Daszkal Bolton, made the magazine's list of 100 companies. None of the 100 was based in the Tampa Bay area.

Pacific Sunwear to quit juggling

Pacific Sunwear of California will give up trying to juggle the surfer look of its 956 PacSun stores with the hip-hop apparel styles sold at its 154-location chain of demo stores. After losing $21-million on demo the first three quarters of 2007, PacSun will take $48-million in impaired asset charges in the quarter that ends Nov. 3. The Anaheim, Calif., company also will hire investment bankers to find buyers for the chain founded 10 years ago that operates Tampa Bay outlets in University Mall and Tyrone Square Mall.

[Last modified October 26, 2007, 20:58:39]