Unemployment Soars; 6,299 Jobs Lost In Escambia

March 8, 2009

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The numbers are not good. Unemployment across the area continues to soar, with 6,299 people losing their jobs in Escambia County in the past year. Nearly 1 in 10 people in Escambia County’s workforce are now out of a job.

Escambia County’s numbers are the worst in the immediate region, and the rate at which people are losing their jobs is also higher than any surrounding county. The unemployment rate in the county has nearly doubled in the past year.

From December to January, Escambia County’s unemployment rate jumped from 7.9 percent to 9.1 percent. That represents 1,693 Escambia County residents losing their jobs in just one month.

In Santa Rosa County, the unemployment rate in Santa Rosa County is 8.2  percent. There are 5,690 people out of work in Santa Rosa County, up from 3,040 one year ago. In the past month, 703 people have lost their jobs in Santa Rosa County.

In Escambia County, Alabama, there were 1,229 people unemployed as of December. The county’s unemployment rate was at 8.5 percent, up 3.2 from December 2007.

Statewide in Florida, there are about 800,000 people out of work — the highest number since September 1992.

“Governor Crist has emphasized job creation and stimulating Florida’s economy by developing budget priorities that focus on these principles and translate federal stimulus dollars into action,” said Agency For Workforce Innovation Interim Director Cynthia R. Lorenzo. “We are working diligently to ensure federal stimulus funds are distributed quickly to have significant impact on increasing benefits and enhancing our services to Floridians. We are also working diligently to ensure our state and business partners are posting job openings on the Employ Florida Marketplace website.”

The Employ Florida Marketplace, provides employers, job seekers, students, training providers and workforce professionals with workforce services at no cost. Employers can post job openings and job seekers can post resumes at www.employflorida.com. Employ Florida Marketplace currently lists nearly 130,000 job opportunities in Florida.

Locally, job services are available from the Escarosa Career Center at 8120 North Century Boulevard in Century. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday. The phone number is 256-6266.

Other locations are the Escarosa Career Centers at 3670-A North L Street in Pensacola and 5723 Highway 90 in Milton.

Pictured above: The most recent unemployment figures from each county across the region. The bottom number on each county represents the percentage increase in the past year. Numbers for Florida counties are from January 2009; numbers for Alabama counties are from December 2008. NorthEscambia.com graphic.

Comments

One Response to “Unemployment Soars; 6,299 Jobs Lost In Escambia”

  1. Dietrich Bondurant on March 9th, 2009 5:55 am

    Folks losing jobs is terrible…but we have employees just quitting our job here at Bondurant Lumber in Flomaton and the state of Alabama approves them for umploymentment compensation. Once one person does it then their buddies decide they’ll do it too! They even approved one guy who was still out thier working that day!! The state’s excuse is that they are backlocked and don’t have time to investigate them all….so their just approving EVERY unemployment claim and it’s up to the employer to appeal it and MAYBE oneday they’ll get around to checking on it…or even READING the reports that say they QUIT. (Which should disqualify them from ANY compensation) This is a big big big problem….