TALENT

Talent measures who is working today and how well the region's talent pipeline is being prepared for the jobs of tomorrow.

Tampa Bay maintained a steady graduation rate for high school seniors and improved from 10th to 6th in the high school graduation rate for economically disadvantaged students.

Although our percentage of disconnected youth (those 16-24 neither enrolled in school nor working) grew from our last report, our ranking amongst comparison communities improved to 14th. We continue to be 19th in educational attainment for all degrees, despite year-over-year progress in the region. Tampa Bay ranks last in Labor Force Participation Rate at 76.74%. The leader in this category is Minneapolis-St. Paul at 85.70%.

Florida Talent

Florida Talent measures specific educational pipeline indicators tracked by the state of Florida, and compares the Tampa Bay MSA against 3 other comparison MSAs, Jacksonville, Orlando, and South Florida.

Less than half of Tampa Bay children are ready for kindergarten, a metric that has dropped since last year. However, our ranking improved to 3rd. We continue to rank last in 3rd grade English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment (also known as the third-grade reading test) with only 50.47% of students passing with a 3 or better. Among Florida Talent Indicators, Tampa Bay leads in SAT scores.