Miami-Dade County’s Unemployment Rate Continues to Drop, Job Growth is Among the Highest in Florida

• Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate continues to improve as the area recovers from COVID-19.
  • In May 2021, the unemployment rate decreased to 6.7% compared to 10.3% in May of 2020; a decrease of 3.6%. Compared to last month (April), the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2%.
  • Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates, which take seasonal fluctuations into consideration, also show a downward trend in unemployment rates.
• Miami-Dade County adds thousands of jobs this May.
  • Miami-Dade County had the third highest job growth in Florida with 82,100 jobs added between May 2020 to May 2021, a 7.7% increase.
  • The monthly number of jobs added also increased. From April 2021 to May 2021, there was an increase of 3,400 nonagricultural payroll jobs. State government, and leisure and hospitality showed the largest increase.

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

As Miami-Dade County is slowly returning to life after the pandemic, unemployment rates have decreased at the local and national levels. The unemployment rate decreased to 6.7% from May of 2020, a decrease of 3.6%. Compared to last month (April), the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% from 6.9% to 6.7%. This happened when a the total labor force increased indicating that people are returning to work or looking for work. And the number of unemployed declined as well.

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 May of 2020.

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

• From April 2021 to May 2021, there was an increase of 3,400 nonagricultural payroll jobs, a 0.3% increase. Most sectors experienced an increase in the number of jobs, with state government and leisure and hospitality showing the largest increase.
• Nonagricultural payroll jobs increased by 82,100 from May 2020 to May 2021, a 7.7% increase.

 

The table below shows that most industries experienced an increase in the number of jobs compared to the last month (April). The industries with the largest gains include leisure and hospitality and other services. The same industries experienced a significant number of new jobs compared to May of 2020. This is to be expected as the hospitality industry lost the largest numbers of jobs at the beginning of the pandemic. Professional and business services, and education and health services show the lowest job growth from April to May of 2021.

Nonagricultural EmploymentMiami-Miami Beach-Kendall MD (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
	April 2021 to May 2021 change	May 2020 to May 2021 change
Industry	Level	Percent	Level	Percent
Leisure and Hospitality	2,500	2.3%	34,400	43.7%
Retail Trade	-300	-0.2%	14,700	12.6%
Other Services	700	1.5%	6,700	16.6%
Professional and Business Services	-2,100	-1.1%	19,100	11.5%
Manufacturing	0	0.0%	900	2.3%
Education and Health Services	-800	-0.4%	4,600	2.5%
Financial Activities	600	0.7%	3,600	4.6%
Wholesale Trade	100	0.1%	800	1.2%
Construction	500	1.0%	-1,100	-2.1%
Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities	1,000	1.3%	2,800	3.7%
Information	100	0.5%	300	1.7%
Total Government	1,100	0.8%	-4,700	-3.3%

All Counties shown below have improved unemployment rates compared to May of 2020, with Palm Beach County showing the lowest rate.

	May 2021 Unemployment Rate (Not Seasonally Adjusted)	May 2020 to May 2021 Unemployment Rate Change (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Miami-Dade County	6.7%	-3.6%
Broward County	5.2%	-12.2%
Palm Beach County	4.6%	-9.7%
Florida	5.0%	-9.3%
United States	5.5%	-7.5%

Unemployment Rate Improves in Miami-Dade County (seasonally adjusted)

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates, which take seasonal fluctuations into consideration, also show a downward trend in unemployment rates. In May 2021, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County was 7.4%, which is 2.8% lower than in May 2020 (10.2%). The unemployment rate is 0.3% lower than in April of 2021 when it was at 7.7%.

From the data and analysis above, we continued to observe lower unemployment rates, which signals economic recovery. 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.