Tampa has fifth-highest unemployment rate among biggest metros

Despite a slight drop in its jobless rate to 12 percent, the Tampa Bay area had the fifth-highest unemployment rate among the biggest metro areas in the country in June, according to Labor Department data released Wednesday.

Among 49 metro areas with populations over one million, Las Vegas had the highest jobless rate for June at 14.5 percent and Washington, D.C., and surrounding suburbs had the lowest at 6.4 percent.

In addition to Vegas, Tampa trailed only Riverside-San Bernardino (14.4 percent), Detroit (14.3 percent) and Sacramento (12.4 percent).

Miami came in No. 6 at 11.7 percent. In fact, four of the 11 highest rates were Florida metros.

But it could be worse. A dozen of the 372 metro areas tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics suffered unemployment rates of at least 15 percent. The worst: El Centro, Calif., at a whopping 27.6 percent, down from 28.1 percent the month before.