Tampa Bay Business Journal - May 18, 2006

by Alexis Muellner

Tampa Bay has big econmomic strengths as a hotbed of employee leasing, boating, big business, medical devices and adult entertainment businesses. It’s lacking in entrepreneurship, self-education and developing the creative class.

But weaknesses and strengths are big opportunities, and the details don’t stop there, according to results from a $40,000 study dubbed "Things are Different Here: The Economic Importance of Tampa Bay’s Distinctiveness," presented Thursday at the Tampa Bay Partnership’s annual meeting in St. Pete Beach.

The study was done by the same Portland, Ore.-based firm, Impresa Consulting, which authored a 2004 study that looked at long-term retention of young, high-skilled professionals. It took place over six months and involved many focus groups and public records research.

The goal was to look at how Tampa Bay is distinctive and what can be done to capitalize on that.

A majority of college graduates, 68 percent, in data cited by the study said they look for a job in a place they would like to live.

CreativeTampaBay, the nonprofit economic development and innovation advocacy group commissioned new marketing research last fall to determine what the Tampa Bay area is first, best or only at.

The study’s author, Impresa’s behavioral economist Joe Cortright, said at the outset that the study coordinators may discover much of their findings accentuate what’s already known. But affirming that provides a bit of a road map of where to put resources.

"The key to economic success or business and for regions in this global economy is distinctiveness and what’s different about your place," Cortright said.

There were many findings in the effort.

When the study looked at where people are coming from, it found that the Northeast provides most out-of-state migrants; with 70 percent of retirees coming from Northeast and Midwest. New York provides the most migrants by far as census data shows nearly 50,000 migrants came between 1995 and 2000. Ohio was a distant second, followed closely by New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania with just under 20,000 people.

Low entrepreneurship

In terms of innovation and business development, the Bay area’s rate of entrepreneurship is below the national average, based on census data of income tax filers with schedule C income.

There were relatively few patents in Tampa Bay as compared to other statistical areas, analysis of U.S. Patent Office data showed. The company with the most was Paradyne (now Zhone Technolgies) with 83. USF had 65, and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) had 24 during the period studied.

When the study looked at industrial specifications, they included banking and finance, back office, media monitoring and marketing, health care, boats and employee leasing.

"Tampa Bay has far less manufacturing employment that other metropolitan areas," the study authors said.

Manufacturing strengths were in electronics and medical devices.

The study found strong employment specializations in banking and insurance. Examples are headquarters of Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) and the area providing major locations for: JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPT), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Progressive Insurance and State Farm.

Employee leasing is also a huge sector here, as the study found more than 170,000 employees are "leased" through Tampa Bay based professional employment organizations. Tampa Bay accounts for more than 10 percent of national employee leasing activity.

There was entrepreneurial specialization in security brokerage and investment banking. Boat building and sales firms also showed up strong with nearly 24 firms and nearly 1,100 employees.

Creative industries opportunity

The Tampa Bay workforce is under-represented in creative, scientific and manufacturing occupations, the study found, as compared to national averages. The workforce is more specialized in health care, sales and office occupations.

A large number of Tampa residents work for large businesses, according to analysis of SBA data showing 60 percent of private-sector employment at firms with 500 people or more.

In some territories unusual to economic development executives, Tampa Bay ranks No. 3 in the nation in adult entertainment establishments per capita and ranks well above average in establishments catering to body art, according to Impresa Consulting’s analysis of business directory data and specifically tattoo and piercing businesses, per million of population.

There is increased opportunity in health care here, they added, as demand for health care will rise more rapidly because of Tampa Bay’s demographic structure.

"The health care worker shortage will be particularly intense in Tampa Bay," the report said. "Industry development efforts should focus on extending demonstrated strengths," including financial and business services and medical devices.

Education matters, but people don’t study

While the quality of education is a major concern to area residents, Tampa Bay studies less and is No. 47 of 50 markets of people who "went to a library"; No. 43 of 50 of those who "attended a lecture" and No. 40 of 50 among those who "attended a class or seminar."

"People are concerned about education but adult education is below the national average," Cortright said.

Frugal and likely to stay home

The study even analyzed consumer spending and found area residents are more frugal, eat out less, drink more alcohol and have less education than national benchmarks.

"People say it’s great having a drink after work but they are less likely to go to bars and taverns so it’s a private thing here."

Despite incomes nearly as high as the national average, Tampa Bay residents spend less than others, authors said.

Despite some areas within the region "getting younger" in terms of average age, baby boomers are "moving into Tampa Bay’s sweet spot," the study found.

"Tampa Bay has recorded one of the nation’s most impressive rates of in-migration," a report said. To that end, authors suggest that the area "use experience with employee leasing to invent new ways for boomers to combine career and retirement" and that community and civic engagement will be key.

Reinventing what retirement is

Part of a big challenge for the area will come in the form of baby boom retirement generation.

"Right now, Tampa Bay has fewer baby boomers than typical metro areas but they are just now reaching the age where people are likely to move to Tampa Bay," Cortright said. "It’s a huge opportunity as most metro areas see retirement age people moving away and so they lose people but Tampa Bay is a big gainer."

The suburban and sprawling pattern of growth in the region works against civic engagement, but the recent advent of downtown housing in the region "is a hopeful sign," authors said.

"There are challenges in terms of civic engagement," he said. "Relative to other Americans, people in Tampa Bay are less likely to be involved in volunteerism and in writing letters to the editor."

Tampa Bay is a much newer metro area than most places in the United States.

"Newer development tends to be more sprawling and that can lead to some disconnectedness," Cortright said.

"In a global economy, local distinctiveness is one important source of the new ideas that can help drive economic prosperity," the report said.