Where are the job opportunities? Here's how the job market looks locally and where it's going

Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal
·3 min read

As 2022 draws to a close, many organizations in Pensacola and the surrounding area are planning for increased job growth, such as FloridaWest's 5-year plan, throughout multiple sectors in the community.

While many citizens in Escambia County said they are generally optimistic about the direction of the county, many voiced concerns about jobs and job growth.

Here is how Northwest Florida jobs finished the year and where its heading in 2023:

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What have jobs looked like so far?

Nicole Gislason, executive director of the University of West Florida Haas Center, told the News Journal that job growth "looks pretty good" and matches up with Escambia and Northwest Florida's population increases.

Jobs have increased in our area from roughly 204,000 to 208,000 between 2021 to 2022, according to Gislason.

"We outpaced the national growth rate from 2016 to 2021 by almost 4% in our region compared to the national average, which was just at 2%," Gislason said.

While many jobs come from our area's top three employers — government, health care and retail trade — Gislason said that finance and insurance was a major source of growth.

"That outpaces the next top-growing industry, accommodation and food services, by double," she said. "That's a high growth area, but it's also a high wage area."

Gislason also said there are multiple in-demand skilled labor industries on the rise, which includes nursing, nursing care and merchandising.

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How will jobs look in 2023 and beyond?

Gislason told the News Journal that Escambia-area jobs will continue to grow, saying, "If all goes as planned, we should end 2026 with about 218,000 jobs."

"Not every community in the U.S. is growing like this," she said. "Those of us in the Sun Belt and the state of Florida are really in a much better position when it comes to jobs and growth potential."

There are roughly 6,000 people between Escambia and Santa Rosa counties looking for employment, according to Gislason, who said employers should "take heart" there are people out there to fill open positions.

According to the Haas Center's 2022 Final Occupation Report, researchers analyzed projected growth of the top high-demand occupations between 2022 and 2027.

According to their data, computer and mathematical occupations are projected to grow by 10.09% in Northwest Florida by 2027, followed by management careers increasing by approximately 9.81% and arts, design, entertainment, sports and media occupations increasing by 9.41%.

Here are all areas of projected growth through 2027 along with their median annual earnings based on 2021 metrics:

  • Computer and Mathematical: 10.09% ($78,467)

  • Management: 9.81% ($73,965)

  • Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media: 9.41% ($43,727)

  • Legal: 9.38% ($63,556)

  • Business and Financial Operations: 8.03% ($63,585)

  • Life, Physical and Social Science: 7.25% ($63,275)

  • Healthcare Practitioners and Technical: 6.18% ($57,704)

  • Installation, Maintenance and Repair: 5.88% ($44,014)

  • Architecture and Engineering: 3.67% ($79,394)

  • Educational Instruction and Library: 2.32% ($46,217)

Gislason said that increases in these top job growth areas means "we are in a situation now where we are recruiting people from good-paying jobs into better-paying jobs."

While she said finding a financial fit for candidates is important, fitting candidates into positions that match their work-life balance is just as important.

"Also providing a good work-life balance and benefits is important to this generation of workers," Gislason said. "So, finding that sweet spot between what the employee wants and what the employer can provide is where we can connect more people to meaningful employment."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Northwest Florida jobs to increase over 5 years in Pensacola area