Table 18. Numbers of non-agricultural employees in Walton County in 1956, 

 1965, and 1978 (Thompson et al . 1980). 



Type of employment 



Employment' 



Construction 



Manufacturing 



Food and kindred products 

 Lumber and wood products 



Transportation and public utilities 



Wholesale trade 



Retail trade 



Finance, insurance, and real estate 



Services 



Missing data withheld to avoid disclosure of employment data for some indi- 

 vidual establishments. 



TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT IN MANUFACTURING 



In 



Florida was considerably below 

 the seven counties, only Bay, 

 employment in manufacturing. 



1970-78, the 1% increase in employment in manufacturing in Northwest 



the State's growth rate of 31% (Table 19). Of 

 Okaloosa, and Walton showed sizeable gains in 

 The greatest gain was by Okaloosa County 

 (1,710 employees), and Escambia County (1,407 employees). The gains in Bay 

 County (790) and Walton County (353) were less primarily because of the 

 smaller number of total employees in manufacturing there. 



Although Escambia and Bay Counties have the largest number of employees 

 in manufacturing, employment in manufacturing as a percentage of the total 

 employment is at least as high if not higher than the State average of 11% for 

 four of the seven counties (Table 20). Gulf County, for instance, has a 

 particularly large percentage of its employees engaged in manufacturing. In 

 addition, in five of the counties, personal income generated by manufacturing 

 as a percentage of total personal income is equal to or higher than the State 

 average of 13.6%. Gulf County shows the highest percentage among the counties 

 because of the dominance of the paper and pulp industry in Port St. Joe. 



Between 1970 and 1978, the number of manufacturing establishments in 

 Northwest Florida increased from 313 to 363 (Table 21). Almost half of this 

 increase was in Okaloosa County. The only other sizeable increase was in 

 Escambia County, whereas the number in Gulf and Walton Counties declined. 



78 



