Unemployment on the increase in Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa

Despite some talk of a national economic upturn, Florida suffered one of its worst months in January, as 66 of 67 counties saw their unemployment rate rise.

The Agency for Workforce Innovation’s unemployment report for January shows Florida’s jobless rate at 12.2 percent, based on the non-seasonally adjusted figures. There were more than 1.1 million people out of work I Florida in January.

“Unemployment is always the last economic indicator to change,” said David Goetsch, a local economist and Northwest Florida State College’s vice president for community relations. “Although I am a little surprised, I thought with all that we’re hearing out of Washington, D.C., that there would be a slight, not much, but a slight upturn in the unemployment numbers.

“What I was expecting to see was that we had hit bottom and turned up slightly, but not much. So we haven’t reached that point yet, and that’s not good news.”

Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties each saw fairly significant increases in their January unemployment rates compared to December, according to the report, which was released Wednesday.

Okaloosa County’s unemployment rate jumped from 8.4 percent in December to 9.2 percent in January. Santa Rosa County’s increased from 10 percent to 10.9 percent and Walton County went from 9 percent to 9.9 percent.

Miami-Dade was the only county in Florida that saw its unemployment rate drop from December to January. As has been the case for months, Liberty County had the lowest unemployment rate, at 7.5 percent.

Goetsch said he expects to see higher unemployment rates until companies have a sustained upswing in business — one that last six months or more.

“Businesses are going to be very, very reluctant to add people,” Goetsch said. “Even when business turns around and they’re doing better, they’re going to try to do better with fewer people as they possibly can. The last thing a business will do is add people. It’s the biggest risk they take.”

Florida’s 12.2 percent unemployment rate was higher than the non-seasonally adjusted national average of 10.6 percent. Goetsch said that was because Florida’s economy is more growth-based than most states, and more dependent on construction.

“When you have a growth-based economy, you get hit in construction, real estate, all the suppliers of construction,” Goetsch said. “One of the bad things about having a growth-based economy is when growth stops, you get hit harder than the other states, and that’s what’s happened to us.”