Job market posts major gains in region

At least three of the biggest counties in the region — Hillsborough, Lee and Sarasota — have been setting monthly bed tax collection records, as the tourism spigot opens all across Florida. Other counties and towns are consistently posting robust tourism numbers, too.  

Yet while tourism booms, jobs in the industry lag. The latest Bureau of Labor statistics monthly report, for example, found that the hospitality and leisure sector remained down some 9,000 jobs in the Tampa region from February 2020 levels.