Okaloosa-area payrolls grow in October
The following is an installment in an ongoing series of monthly updates on the employment situation in select Northwest Florida markets.
The following is an installment in an ongoing series of monthly updates on the employment situation in select Northwest Florida markets.
The metro area jobs report for October was released on Nov. 21, and the Okaloosa County metro area registered 81,900 jobs seasonally adjusted on nonfarm payrolls. This was an increase of 1,400 jobs relative to October 2013.
The 1.7 percent increase for the Fort Walton Beach area was in line with the national increase of 1.9 percent, but slower than the Florida increase of 2.7 percent. The metro area unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 4.5 percent, down from 4.8 percent for October 2013. That is the lowest rate among Florida’s 22 metro areas.
Of the 10 major economic sectors, natural resources, which includes construction, turned in the strongest performance, accounting for 700 jobs, or 50 percent of total job growth, over the year.
The information sector showed the greatest percentage growth over the period, at 11.1 percent. But because that sector is only about 1.2 percent of total employment, it was a change of some 100 jobs over the prior year’s figure.
The government sector (federal, state and local) is the single largest employer in the local economy, accounting for 20 percent of all employment. However, employment in that sector was unchanged from a year ago at 16,400 jobs.
The manufacturing sector lost about 300 jobs relative to a year ago, and the finance, insurance and real estate sector lost about 100 jobs over the year.
Education and health care employment was unchanged.
Okaloosa is still some 3,800 jobs short of the peak reached in late 2006 during the height of the real estate bubble. However, the 1,400 per year pace registered over the past year is well above the average 12-month change of 900 seen since the economy began regaining jobs after employment bottomed out in early 2010. The latest figures are now 5,700 jobs above the March 2010 figure on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Dr. Rick Harper serves as assistant vice president for economic development at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Florida. He directs UWF’s Office of Economic Development and Engagement, which includes the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development and the Florida Small Business Development Center Network. He also directs the Studer Institute.
