Department of Numbers

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Tampa fell 1.0 percentage points in January 2021 to 4.6%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than the Florida rate. The unemployment rate in Tampa peaked in April 2020 at 13.5% and is now 8.9 percentage points lower. You can also compare Tampa unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate January 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.3% -0.4 +2.8
Florida 4.8% -0.3 +1.5
Tampa 4.6% -1.0 +1.7
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with January 2021 data as February metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Tampa, Florida, National

Tampa, Florida monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Tampa, Florida Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Tampa peaked in April 2020 at 193,066. There are now 122,038 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. Tampa employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Tampa, Florida) is also available.

Unemployed Persons January 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
Tampa 71,028 -14,918 +25,222

Number of Unemployed Persons

Tampa, Florida Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Florida
Unemployment Rate		 Tampa
Unemployment Rate		 Tampa
Unemployed
March
2021		 6.0% — — —
February
2021		 6.2% 4.7% — —
January
2021		 6.3% 4.8% 4.6% 71,028
December
2020		 6.7% 5.1% 5.6% 85,946
November
2020		 6.7% 5.4% 5.7% 87,035
October
2020		 6.9% 5.8% 5.8% 87,888
September
2020		 7.8% 7.2% 5.8% 87,777
August
2020		 8.4% 7.9% 6.6% 99,918
July
2020		 10.2% 11.5% 10.1% 150,467
June
2020		 11.1% 11.6% 8.9% 129,841
May
2020		 13.3% 14.2% 12.4% 179,898
April
2020		 14.8% 14.0% 13.5% 193,066

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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