Miami-Dade’s Employment Numbers Continue to Show Growth
Media Contact:
Maria Camacho
mcamacho@beaconcouncil.com
(305) 579-1341
Miami-Dade County’s unemployment remained the same as last month at 5.1 percent in February and the county added 1.9 percent payroll jobs from February 2016 to February 2017, according to statistics released Friday.
“We are seeing year over year job growth in a range of industry sectors including Educational & Health Services (5.1 percent) and Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities (1.3 percent),” said Jaap Donath, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Research & Strategic Planning for the Miami-Dade Beacon Council.
“Our diverse local economy was showcased at our recent Key Ceremony which honored 43 new and expanding companies located throughout Miami-Dade County.”
The numbers analyzed
Miami-Dade County created 22,300 new nonagricultural payroll jobs (not seasonally adjusted), from February 2016 to February 2017 which was a 1.9 percent increase. Miami-Dade County continues to show year over year gains. Improvements in the non-farm payroll jobs can be found in a variety of sectors. Between January 2017 and February 2017, Miami-Dade County decreased nonagricultural payroll jobs by 2,100 or 0.2 percentage point.
The not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami- Dade County was 5.1 percent in February 2017, which was the same as January 2017, and February 2016.
In February 2017, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County (taking seasonal fluctuations in the labor force into consideration) was 5.5 percent.
| Sector | February 2016 – February 2017 Job Change (%) | January2017- February 2017 Job Change (%) |
| Education & Health Services | +9,100 (+5.1%) | +2,800 (+1.5%) |
| Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities | +3,700 (+1.3%) | -2,900 (-1.0%) |
| Other Services | +2,700 (+5.1%) | -200 (-0.4%) |
| Total Government | +2,500 (+1.8%) | +1,000 (+0.7%) |
| Professional & Business Service | +2,400 (+1.5%) | -1,300 (-0.8%) |
| Retail Trade | +1,800 (+1.2%) | -3,500 (-2.3%) |
| Leisure and Hospitality | +1,400 (+1.0%) | -1,200 (-0.8%) |
| Construction | +500 (+1.2%) | +1,200 (+2.9%) |
| Manufacturing | +300 (+0.7%) | -300 (-0.7%) |
| Wholesale Trade | +100 (+0.1%) | +1,300 (+1.8%) |
| Information | +0 (+0.0%) | +0 (+0.0%) |
| Financial Activities | -300 (-0.4%) | – 1,200 (-1.5%) |
| February 2017 Unemployment Rate (Seasonally Adjusted) | February 2017 Unemployment Rate (Not Seasonally Adjusted) | January 2017 to February 2017 Unemployment Rate Change (not seasonally adjusted) | |
| Miami-Dade County | 5.5% | 5.1% | 0.0% |
| Broward/Palm Beach/ Miami-Dade | * | 4.5% | -0.5% |
| Florida | 5.0% | 4.7% | -0.5% |
| United States | 4.7% | 4.9% | -0.2% |
From the data and analysis above, we see continued improvement in the local economy. Nevertheless, the community needs to remain focused on job-creation projects in targeted industries. These industries have been identified as the Miami-Dade County industries most able to create additional well-paying job opportunities, leading to an improved quality of life for Miami-Dade County residents. The Miami-Dade Beacon Council continues to aggressively work on attracting new companies to our community and work on the expansion and retention of existing business.
The job creation numbers are derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics Program (CES), and only account for non-farm payroll jobs. However, the unemployment rates are derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program (LAUS), which includes farm payroll jobs as well as self-employed workers.
In addition, the federal government typically conducts interviews in sample households to determine the unemployment rate. Miami-Dade County is one of six metropolitan areas in the United States that uses a different method solely based on a statistical model derived from several data sets. –end–
* The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unavailable at the time this report was composed.
