Monroe County 



In Monroe County, which depends heavily on tourism, retail trade and ser- 

 vices (especially motels and lodging facilities) accounted for 66% of the 

 total non-agricultural employment (excluding government) in 1979. Manufactur- 

 ing employed only 837 people. 



Pasco County 



Pasco County, just north of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties, is 

 developing rapidly and its western portion has many of the retirement and 

 recreation characteristics shown by Pinellas County. Its central and eastern 

 portions are spillover areas for Hillsborough County, so this area is similar 

 in some respects to the Tampa area. In 1979, the major fields of employment 

 were retail trade, services, and manufacturing. 



Pinellas County 



In Pinellas County, 33,091 people were employed in manufacturing in 1979. 

 This was exceeded only by retail trade and services. Over one-third of the 

 service workers in the county were employed in health-related fields; most 

 likely a consequence of the large number of retirees. 



Sarasota County 



Retail trade and services accounted for the majority of the non-agricul- 

 tural jobs in Sarasota County and reflect the county's dependence on tourism, 

 recreation, and retirement. The next largest categories of employment were 

 construction and manufacturing. 



RECENT INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT 



The types of industries that have located or expanded in the counties of 

 Southwest Florida in 1970-80 are discussed in the following subsections. A 

 list of these new industries or expansions by county, city, and type of manu- 

 facturing is given in Table 15. 



Charlotte, Collier, and DeSoto Counties 



No new industrial plants or expansions were reported for Charlotte County 

 in the 1970's. In 1974, a concrete block and ready-mix plant was located in 

 Naples (Collier County) to serve the growing residential development. In the 

 more agriculturally oriented DeSoto County, a citrus processing plant (1978) 

 and a asphalt plant (1980) were opened in Arcadia. 



Hillsborough County 



In 1970-80, thirty-seven new industries located in Hillsborough County 

 and six manufacturing firms expanded their floor space. Thirty-one of the new 

 plants were in Tampa and the other six in Plant City. All of the expansions 

 were in Tampa. The construction of 16 new plants in 1979 and 1980 may be a 

 forerunner of new industrial growth in the county. Several of the industries 

 listed in Table 15 could be used or converted to supply the needs of OCS oil 



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