By Jeff Harrington, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Tampa Bay's already-depressed construction industry just crumpled to a new low.
For the 12-month period ending in January, the bay area lost more construction jobs than any other metro region in the country. That dropped construction employment here to the lowest level since the federal government began tracking it in 1990.
Only 43,000 construction jobs are left in an area that bragged it was one of the country's top growth spots just six years ago. January's dismal tally shows bay area construction employment down 14 percent year over year and a startling 55 percent from the market's peak of 95,300 jobs in June 2006.
Don Bartley, a cabinet maker who handles jobs from north Tampa to south Sarasota, said he isn't surprised. Almost all his work now is warranty and remodels, with very ...