September Employment Report Miami- Dade County Continues to See Unemployment Rate Drop Despite Recent Storm Activities

October 20, 2017

(Miami – October 20, 2017) – Miami- Dade County continues to maintain a low unemployment rate, experiencing a 0.3 percentage point decrease from August 2017. Even with “weathering” Hurricane Irma, Miami-Dade County’s 4.6 unemployment rate is the lowest since the 2008 recession, highlighting the county’s resiliency.

The trade & logistics industry, one of the community’s seven target industries continues to show itself as one of the most robust with an increase of 4,600 jobs this past year in the transportation, warehousing, utilities and wholesale sectors.

“This has been a great year for trade & logistics industry and will continue to grow as a result of the investments in the airport and seaport and the increase in new and enhanced educational programs,” said Michael Finney, President & CEO of the Miami-Dade Beacon Council. “In the past year, we have also gained companies such as Amazon.com which will contribute to the increasing number once the fulfillment center is fully operational in the City of Opa-Locka.”

The numbers analyzed

The not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami- Dade County was 4.6 in September 2017, which was a 0.3 percentage point decrease from August 2017 at 4.9 percent. The 4.6 percent unemployment rate is the lowest since May 2008, prior the Great Recession. Compared to last year September there was a 1.1 percentage point decrease with the unemployment rate at 5.7 percent. Below the graph compares the unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County with that of the United States. It shows that Miami-Dade County tracks the unemployment rate of the United States, but at a slightly higher rate.

In September 2017, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County (taking seasonal fluctuations in the labor force into consideration) was 4.5 percent, which was an 0.9 percentage point lower than September 2016.

Miami-Dade County created 1,900 new nonagricultural payroll jobs (not seasonally adjusted), from September 2016 to September 2017 which was a 0.2 percent increase. At the same time, between August 2017 and September 2017, Miami-Dade County decreased nonagricultural payroll jobs by 13,600 or 1.2 percentage point decrease. Much of this is the result of Hurricane Irma, especially in such sectors as Leisure & Hospitality. As has happened in the past, recovery has led to additional jobs and with the approaching Winter season, Miami-Dade County will see job increases.Total Government showed an increase of 2,000 jobs for the same period. The graphs below show the payroll data since February 2016. It can be expected that this job loss will be temporarily.

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. For more information, visit www.beaconcouncil.com.

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.

* The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unavailable at the time this report was composed.

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