Fastest and Slowest Growth Industries

Southwest Florida’s economic growth continued to strengthen from 2016 to 2020, as shown in Table 3-5 and Chart 3-5. During the time-period, the region has experienced an increase of 10,103 employees. The fastest-growing industries from 2016 to 2020 were construction (9,755 employees, 22 percent increase), health care and social assistance (4,076 employees, 7.5 percent increase), professional and technical services (2,395 employees, 11.7 percent increase), manufacturing (1,686 employees, 15.7 percent increase), and transportation and warehousing (1,478 employees, 21.8 percent increase). Over the same period, the slowest-growing industries were accommodation and food services (4,859 employee decline, 8.1 percent decrease), agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (2,799 employee decline, 24.9 percent decrease), retail trade (1,595 employee decline, 2.2 percent decrease), arts, entertainment, and recreation (1,072 employee decline, 6.6 percent decrease), and information (674 employee decline, 14 percent decrease).

Two of the top five employment industries were also amongst the slowest-growing industries in the region in 2020 (retail trade and accommodation and food services), as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the tourism industry that Southwest Florida enjoys as a comparative advantage.

Southwest Florida

Industry

Construction Health Care and Social Assistance Professional and Technical Services Manufacturing Transportation and Warehousing Wholesale Trade Finance and Insurance Real Estate and Rental and Leasing Unclassified

2016

44,346 54,114 20,466 10,729 6,775 11,016 11,041 11,571 74

2020

54,101 58,190 22,861 12,415 8,253 12,145 11,614 12,031 269

Growth

9,755 4,076 2,395 1,686 1,478 1,129 573 460 195

Utilities

1,126 Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction 354 Administrative and Waste Services 29,299

Educational Services

4,616 Other Services, Except Public Administration 16,495 Management of Companies and Enterprises 3,280 Information 4,810

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation 16,162

Retail Trade

72,400 Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting 11,219

Accommodation and Food Services 59,714 1,164 382 29,239 4,538 16,412 2,790 4,136 15,090 70,805 8,420 54,855

38 28 -60 -78 -83 -490 -674 -1,072 -1,595 -2,799 -4,859

Total, All Industries 389,607

399,710

Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Bureau of Labor Statistics

10,103 Percent

22.0% 7.5% 11.7% 15.7% 21.8% 10.2% 5.2% 4.0% 263.5% 3.4% 7.9% -0.2% -1.7% -0.5% -14.9% -14.0% -6.6% -2.2% -24.9% -8.1%

2.6%