Dec. 20--Florida's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate just keeps rising. The November jobless rate checked in at 7.3 percent Friday, the worst since June 1993.

But an even greater number did not escape Rick Harper from the Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development at the University of West Florida. There were 273,000 more Floridians listed as unemployed than in November 2007, an increase of about 67.1 percent.

"And there are the people who don't get counted," Harper added, "like someone who needs a second job or needs more hours and has given up looking. ... The overall increase is not a surprise. What's noteworthy is that the Metropolitan Statistical Areas involving Fort Walton (5.4 percent) and Tallahassee (5.5) are among the lowest, so it shows that private employers are laying off more than the government.

"And for us, the ugly part about that is that $16 of every $17 of state tax revenue comes form east and south of Tallahassee. When those regions slow down, we get hurt with county revenue sharing and funding for public services."

Regionally, Okaloosa County's jobless rate jumped from 5.1 percent to 5.4 percent. Santa Rosa County rose from 5.9 percent to 6.3 percent and Walton County bumped up from 4.5 percent to 5 percent.

"No, I'm not surprised at all," Mary Lou Reed, executive director of the Workforce Development Board of Okaloosa and Walton Counties, said of the figures. "We're seeing that increase in numbers coming into our one-stop centers. But the good thing is, word is getting out about what sort of resources we have to offer."

Recently, Florida's Great Northwest gave a $20,000 grant to the local Workforce Development Board. The grant will be used to:

? Promote entry into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and training. ? Promote and provide education and training in information technology. ? Provide skills and upgrade training for local businesses' workforce. ? Assist Florida's Great Northwest and the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County in a local business survey.

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