By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
Friday, December 3, 2010
Here's yet another statistic that bolsters Pasco's status as a bedroom community: Last year the county had nearly 472,000 people — and 100,360 jobs.
That means Pasco had jobs for only 21 percent of its residents.
Compare that with Hillsborough, where there were half as many jobs (612,780) as people (1.2 million). Pinellas County was not far behind, with 420,270 jobs for its 909,000 residents, according to figures from Pasco consultant Strategic Planning Group Inc.
Other statistics presented by the consultant this week touch on the county's work force and its roads: Pasco falls behind the state average on the portion of residents who completed at least a year of college. It tops the state average, however, when it comes to the number of vehicles involved in fatal accidents per 100,000 people.
Pasco officials are in the early stages of an economic development effort that they hope will help add good paying jobs, such as the ones projected at the proposed T. Rowe Price project in Land O'Lakes.
The stakes are high, officials say. If the county doesn't step up its game, jobs will go to Hillsborough, Polk and "right up the road to Hernando," County Adminstrator John Gallagher said this week.
Next week, the county is sponsoring a series of public workshops for residents who want to provide input about Pasco's strengths and weaknesses as it puts together its job-recruiting strategy.
Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6247.