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Northwest Florida Employment
by Michael Scheibe, MBA

The unemployment rate for the Northwest Florida region in the third quarter of 2008 was 1.9 percent higher than it was in the third quarter of 2007. The unemployment rate identifies the percentage of people in the labor force that are seeking a job but do not have one. The labor force is the sum of those employed and unemployed, but it does not include the jobless who are not seeking employment such as full-time students and retirees.
                                             
Monthly estimates of labor force, employment, and unemployment for selected counties and cities are calculated using the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. The concepts and definitions underlying LAUS data come from the Current Population Survey (CPS); this household survey is the official measure of the labor force for the nation. The data for this article was extracted from the LAUS program on the twelfth of March.

The unemployment rate in the Northwest Florida region for the third quarter of 2008 was 5.5 percent, up 1.9 percent from last year as previously mentioned. The region continued its trend of being lower than both the state’s and the nation’s rate as demonstrated in the graph comparing unemployment rates. However, the state’s unemployment rate no longer continued being lower than the nation’s unemployment rate. Before the second quarter of 2008, the state’s unemployment rate had been lower than the nation’s rate since 2002. In the third quarter of 2008, the state’s unemployment rate was 0.9 percent higher than the nation’s rate at 6.0 percent.

Within the region, the quarterly unemployment rates had a range of 2.2 percent. Walton County had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.3 percent, up 1.6 percent from last year. The next lowest rate was Franklin County’s 4.5 percent. Gadsden County had the highest unemployment rate at 6.5 percent, up from last year 1.9. The second highest rate was Washington County at 6.4 percent. The median unemployment rate for the sixteen counties was 5.4 percent.

Northwest Florida lost 697 jobs between third quarter 2007 and third quarter 2008. Nine counties in the region lost jobs over the same time period, and Santa Rosa County lost the most jobs at 2,303. Unfortunately, all the sixteen counties increased their unemployment rate. Only ten of the 16 counties in the region had an increase in their labor force. Leon County and Bay County added the most jobs at 3,832 and 1,148, respectively.

The results of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey suggest that nationwide hiring will increase in the fourth quarter of 2008. The survey results indicated that 59 percent of the respondents expect no change in the rate of hiring, 22 percent plan on increases, 13 percent plan on reductions, and 6 percent are unsure. The regional results from employers in the South show a net employment outlook of 9 percent also because 22 percent plan on increasing their hiring rate while 13 percent plan on decreasing their payrolls.