Miami-Dade County’s Unemployment Rate Reaches Pre-Pandemic Levels

Key Takeaways

  • This December’s unemployment report shows that the unemployment rate decreased to 1.4%. This is the lowest unemployment rate among all counties in Florida.
  • There was an increase of 68,000 nonagricultural payroll jobs from December 2020 to December 2021: a 6% increase
  • When analyzing the numbers by sector, almost all sectors experienced an increase in the number of jobs compared to last year.

Unemployment Rate in Miami-Dade County (not seasonally adjusted)

Miami-Dade County continues experiencing economic growth as local companies are growing and companies from other parts of the United States, as well as from abroad move their operations to Miami-Dade County. This December’s unemployment report shows that the unemployment rate decreased to 1.4% compared to 7.9% in December of 2020. The unemployment rate decreased from 3.5% in November 2021 to 1.4% in December 2021.  Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate is lower than the country’s unemployment rate, which was not the case for most of the pandemic. Another important trend is that Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate has reached pre-pandemic levels.

Note: The Miami metro area labor force statistics use a different measurement method than all other counties in Florida. The information for the monthly employment and unemployment estimates come from Current Population Survey (CPS). There are only seven large areas across the nation which uses this labor force statistics model. The graph compares the unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County with that of the United States since December of 2020.

Non-agricultural Payroll Jobs (not seasonally adjusted) – Miami-Dade County

  • Nonagricultural payroll jobs increased by 6,600 from November 2021 to December 2021; a 0.6% increase.
  • There was an increase of 68,000 nonagricultural payroll jobs from December 2020 to December 2021: a 6% increase
  • When analyzing the numbers by sector, almost all sectors experienced an increase in the number of jobs compared to last year.
  • Miami-Dade County had the third largest increase in payroll jobs in Florida after the Orlando area and the Tampa area.

The table below shows that almost all industries experienced an increase in the number of jobs compared to last year. The industries with the largest gains since December 2020 include Professional and Business Services and Leisure and Hospitality. This is to be expected as the hospitality industry lost the largest numbers of jobs at the beginning of the pandemic. Education and Health Services saw a reduction in the number of jobs between December of 2020 and December 2021.

Nonagricultural Employment

MIAMI-MIAMI BEACH-KENDALL MD (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

 

 November 2021 to December 2021 changeDecember 2020 to December 2021 change
IndustryLevelPercentLevelPercent
Professional and Business Services4,9002.5%24,00013.3%
Leisure and Hospitality2000.2%17,80017%
Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities4,6005.2%11,50014.2%
Other Services4000.8%5,00011.2%
Total Government-700-0.5%3,5002.5%
Wholesale Trade4000.6%2,9004.2%
Retail Trade2000.1%2,7002.0%
Financial Activities-1,800-2.1%1,7002.1%
Manufacturing4000.9%5001.2%
Construction-100-0.2%4000.8%
Information-100-0.5%3001.6%
Education and Health Services-1,800-1.0%-2,300-1.2%

All Counties shown below have improved unemployment rates compared to December of 2020, with Miami-Dade County showing the lowest rate.

 

 

December 2021
Unemployment Rate
(Not Seasonally Adjusted)
December 2020 to December 2021
Unemployment Rate Change (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Miami-Dade County1.4%-6.5%
Broward County3.6%-0.6%
Palm Beach County3.3%-0.2%
Florida 3.2%-1%
United States3.7%-2.8%

Unemployment Rate in Miami-Dade County (seasonally adjusted)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates, which take seasonal fluctuations into consideration, show a downward trend in unemployment rates. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County is 4.3% for December of 2021, which is 4.3% lower than in December of 2020. This December’s unemployment rate is 0.8% lower than the previous month.

From the data and analysis above, we continue observing lower unemployment rates. In addition to lower unemployment rates, Miami-Dade County is experiencing tremendous growth as a result of new investments, company re-locations and the creation of high-paying jobs. The community needs to remain focused on job-retention projects in targeted industries, as well as all sectors. 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. For more information, visit www.beaconcouncil.com.

Sources

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.