UWF Haas Center eNewsletter

The unemployment rate for the Northwest Florida region in the first quarter of 2009 was 3.9 percent higher than it was in the first quarter of 2008. 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 ninth of June.

The unemployment rate in the Northwest Florida region for the fourth quarter of 2008 was 8.1 percent, up 3.9 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. The state’s unemployment rate continued being higher 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 first quarter of 2009, the state’s unemployment rate was 0.5 percent higher than the nation’s rate at 8.8 percent.

Within the region, the quarterly unemployment rates ranged from 5.4 percent to 10.7 percent. Liberty County had the lowest unemployment rate at 5.4 percent, up 2.2 percent from last year. The next lowest rate was Leon County at 6.2 percent. Gadsden County had the highest unemployment rate at 10.7 percent, up from last year 5.8 percent. The second highest rate was tied between Bay County and Washington County at 9.6 percent. The median unemployment rate for the sixteen counties was 7.6 percent.

Northwest Florida lost 9,930 jobs between first quarter 2008 and first quarter 2009. Ten counties in the region lost jobs over the same time period, and Escambia County lost the most jobs at 3,642. Also, all the sixteen counties increased their unemployment rate since last year, but every county had increases in its labor force. Walton County added the most jobs at 1,283.

The numbers for this article reflect the latest information available online at the time of article preparation. Please note that these numbers are subject to subsequent revision by the Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Table 1. Quarterly Employment
	1st Quarter 2008				Annual Changes (Q1-08 to Q1-09)
	Labor Force	Employment	Unemployment	Unemployment Rate	Jobs Added or Lost	Unemployment Rate Change
Bay	88,093	79,603	8,490	9.6%	-1,877	4.9%
Calhoun	6,080	5,590	490	8.1%	155	3.9%
Escambia	140,610	127,261	13,349	9.5%	-3,642	4.8%
Franklin	4,604	4,272	333	7.2%	-86	3.2%
Gadsden	21,753	19,416	2,337	10.7%	-376	5.8%
Gulf	6,254	5,685	569	9.1%	-106	4.0%
Holmes	9,305	8,575	730	7.8%	203	3.7%
Jackson	22,404	20,875	1,529	6.8%	105	2.7%
Jefferson	6,878	6,375	503	7.3%	-124	3.6%
Leon	146,277	137,233	9,044	6.2%	-2,659	2.8%
Liberty	4,033	3,815	217	5.4%	211	2.2%
Okaloosa	96,370	89,415	6,955	7.2%	-963	3.3%
Santa Rosa	69,039	63,117	5,922	8.6%	-1,806	4.1%
Wakulla	15,384	14,327	1,057	6.9%	-278	3.4%
Walton	31,994	29,612	2,381	7.4%	1,283	3.4%
Washington	10,084	9,112	971	9.6%	29	4.5%
Region	679,162	624,284	54,878	8.1%	-9,930	3.9%
State	9,190,000	8,331,333	858,667	9.3%	-345,333	4.4%
US	153,659,000	140,124,667	13,534,333	8.8%	-4,630,333	3.5%

Original Data Sources: Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation, Labor Market Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Florida Research and Economic Database. Data retrieved on 6/9/09.