800 NEW MANUFACTURING JOBS TARGET FOR OKALOOSA COUNTY AREA

Just another example of the Okaloosa County Economic Development Council growing our community with a diverse job market.


From Larry Sassano, President of the Okaloosa County Economic Development Council

Leading economists predict that manufacturing in the U.S. will come back, at least the output associated with manufacturing. Of the 2 million jobs lost since January 2008, only about two-thirds are predicted to return by 2013. Leading the way back are the production of sophisticated high-tech goods such as: medical equipment and defense electronics, satellites, some advanced machinery, cell phone applications, biotechnology, and Internet routing equipment. The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics on June 30, 2009, released its Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment rates for all 372 metropolitan areas across the U.S. Unemployment rates were higher in May than a year earlier in all 372 metropolitan areas.
Manufacturing data was available for 331 metro areas (Florida has 20 Metro areas, with Okaloosa County as one area known as the Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin, MSA—Metropolitan Statistical Area). Between May 1999 and May 2009, exactly 16 U.S. metro areas experienced net gains in manufacturing employment. That’s about five percent of metro areas where data was available. Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin ranked second with the highest number of manufacturing jobs gained (1,500). Las Vegas-Paradise, NV was number one with 4,700 jobs gained.

Why is this significant?
Areas that are abundant in manufacturing tend to be more self-sufficient, not needing to rely so
heavily on outside exports to stabilize their local economies. Additional evidence of this is shown in our unemployment rate. Our MSA unemployment rate is 7.1% as compared to Florida’s 10.6%. Our MSA unemployment rate is also the 5th lowest in the state today! The Economic Development Council’s current active projects list supports this continued manufacturing growth in our County. 5 of our 10 most active projects are manufacturing facilities. These projects represent a projected 800 new manufacturing jobs with an average projected pay that is approximately 125 percent higher than the average wage ($18.40) in Okaloosa County today.
Manufacturing and manufacturing jobs are important and Okaloosa County is leading the way to new growth through our targeted industry sectors that support quality production and quality employment. We are leading Florida out of this recovery and this recession.

Your EDC is doing its job to sustain this employment and our excellent quality of life.