Gulf Coast unemployment down

Unemployment is down 0.8 percentage points over the year on average in each of the counties within the Business Review's coverage area, according to the Agency for Workforce Innovation's data for February.

Three counties — Charlotte, Collier and Lee — actually lost about 1,000 net jobs each, but even larger reductions to each locality's labor force brought the unemployment rate down.

As a region, the Gulf Coast added 7,857 jobs over the year. Employers in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties combined to create about 10,000 jobs, while Manatee and Sarasota employers created another 1,000 net jobs themselves.