Sean Malott President & CEO Central Florida Development Council, Inc.
What improvement opportunities is the council eyeing? One opportunity for improvement is our local manufacturing hub, which we would like to see more of. Several manufacturers were forced to tackle challenges within their supply chain. Some of the products and materials they need come from other markets that became inaccessible overnight. Thinking about where the supply chain is located, where you get your products from, we were working on messaging that made businesses think about the proportion of the inputs they can get locally and those they have to get from abroad. Our messaging centered on preparing the supply chain of the future, and we believe that means more manufacturing coming to the United States. Some of it will come to Florida, much of it to other locations. Knowing that certain industries have done really well in this time and to have some of those within your community is important. It recognizes that having headquarters and major operations locally is definitely a benefit. We would like to see more of that. What unique opportunities does Polk County offer companies looking to relocate? Right before COVID, we were working on a new initiative called the Central Florida Innovation District. It’s an area that encompasses Florida Polytechnic University, right along Interstate 4. The Department of Transportation is building SunTrax, an autonomous vehicles research and testing facility down the street from Florida Polytechnic University. We designated this area as the Innovation District, tying these two large anchor institutions and attracting major state investments to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to increase awareness about new developments. Since we started that initiative and marketed that effort, we’ve had several developers come into the market that are in due diligence and looking to take out large tracts of land in that area. It offers definite possibilities as transportation infrastructure comes into play. 22
| Invest: Tampa Bay 2021 | ECONOMY
Cuban cigars were made in Tampa for many years, earning Tampa the nickname “Cigar City”.
( ) percentage points below the national average. Even at the height of the unemployment crisis in April 2020, the region’s rate remained below the national average at 13.9%. In May 2020, the region regained more than 38,000 jobs after the initial unemployment shock, which was a faster rate than any other region in Florida. Pinellas County recorded the lowest unemployment rate for the month at 4%, followed by Pasco and Hillsborough, both at 4.2% and Hernando at 4.9%. The average weekly wages in Hillsborough County are the highest at $1,133, although that is still slightly lower than the national average of $1,173. Pinellas County follows with an average weekly wage of $1,011, then Pasco with $835 and Hernando with $767. As expected, the majority of job losses in the region have been in the hospitality and leisure fields, which recorded 136,600 jobs in February, 16.9% down on the
