Tampa Bay area small business job growth strong, wage growth weak, report says
The bay area ranked second in employment growth at small businesses in February, but was in the lower third for hourly wage growth.

By Richard Danielson
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Mar 3, 2020

Good news/bad news Tuesday on jobs and wages at small businesses around the Tampa Bay area.

The good news: The bay area was the nation’s second best-performing major metropolitan area for small business job growth.

The bad news: Wages in the region averaged $24.80 an hour in February, or 2.09 percent higher than for the same month a year ago. That put the region 15th among the nation’s 20 largest metro areas for year-over-year growth in hourly wages.

These numbers are from the Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business.Employment watch, a monthly analysis of trends in hiring and pay at companies with fewer than 50 employees.

Nationwide, hiring remained strong, with a third straight month of small business employment growth. The last time that took place was in early 2017.

But the upbeat trend came with a caveat.

"These results have yet to reflect any impact from cases of the COVID-19 (coronavirus), which are expected to increase in the coming months,” Paychex president and chief executive officer Martin Mucci said in announcing the numbers.

Nationwide, average earnings were up 2.74 percent year over year to $27.62 an hour. Florida ranked second among states for job growth and 10th for wage growth, with a 2.59 percent annual growth rate and an average hourly wage of $25.14.

Miami, the only other Florida city on the list, ranked fifth in employment growth and seventh in wage growth, with a 3 percent annual growth rate that has pushed average wages there to $27.42 an hour.