Bay area's jobless rate rises sharply

Tampa Bay's unemployment numbers aren't pretty.

The area lost 20,300 jobs over the past year — the fourth-biggest loss nationwide among larger metro areas. Local unemployment is up 1.9 percentage points since May 2007, bringing the rate to 5.6 percent, an uptick that's among the most rapid when compared to similar markets around the country.

But don't worry too much, experts say. The job market isn't crashing, just coming down from a Cloud 9 built on double-digit growth in construction and real estate during recent years.

While the latest comparative unemployment numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal that professions like construction are still in a rut, other fields around Tampa Bay aren't doing as poorly. Some are even growing.

"The state has been doing so well for so long, at some point it has to come back down to earth and be a little more normal," said Kevin Klowden, a managing economist with the Milken Institute. "Florida's shift is more that it was booming, and now it's not booming. That doesn't mean Florida is falling into a massive recession."