Sarasota-Manatee region economy looks strong, says USF professor

1. The economic outlook for the Sarasota-Manatee region for 2023 looks strong.

The labor market in particular appears to have recovered, statistically at least, from the past two years.  Both the size of the labor force and the unemployment rate has held steady for the past several months.  Of particular note is the dramatic drop in unemployment in the manufacturing and tourism and hospitality sectors, both down around 10 percentage points. Taken together, the labor market looks strong for 2023.