Scorecard rally cry? Thank heaven for Jax

The Tampa Bay area improved one notch in its regional economic scorecard, but if not for Jacksonville it would be at the bottom of the bracket.

In releasing the 10th and latest version of the semiannual report, the eight-county Tampa Bay Partnership pointed to the step up to fifth place among six Southern peer metropolitan areas, with six different factors improving, declining or maintaining across the board. Only a one-point margin separated Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, with first-place Raleigh/Durham, N.C., far outperforming others.

If the partnership had wanted to spin its report, it could have claimed fourth place since Atlanta and Charlotte technically tied for third, right behind Dallas. But there's no getting around the fact that the Bay area's annual average wage declined while all five other metros saw increases.

“Jobs and wages remain top issues for Tampa Bay,” Mike Vail, president and COO of Tampa-based Sweetbay Supermarket who chairs the partnership's scorecard committee, says in releasing the results March 8. “We need to strategically address the creation of good, higher-wage jobs to make a measurable and competitive difference in our economy.”

Some points from the latest report:

• The region lost 5,700 jobs year over year through the third quarter of 2010, though that's better than the previous loss of 54,000 positions.
• The Gross Regional Product grew by 3.6% over the year, ahead of 2.5% in Jacksonville but trailing 6% in Dallas.
• Home prices in the Bay area are second lowest, ahead of only Atlanta, yet apartment rental rates are third highest behind Atlanta and Dallas.
• Venture capital flows to the Bay area totaled $38.2 million, an over-the-year decline of 60%.
• Tampa Bay ranks lowest in terms of transportation expenditures as a percentage of total consumer expenditures, at 16.7%. All other metros were well above 17%.