Miami-Dade County’s Unemployment Rate Drops to 6.5%

• The July 2021 unemployment rate improved compared to last month and last year.
  • This July’s unemployment report shows that the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by 8.7% compared to July of 2020. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.6%, from 7.1% in June 2021 to 6.5% in July 2021.
• Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates, which take seasonal fluctuations into consideration, continue to show a downward trend in unemployment rates.

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

As Miami-Dade County is slowly returning to life after the pandemic, unemployment rates have decreased in the last few months at the local and national levels. This July’s unemployment report shows that the unemployment rate decreased by 8.7% compared to July of 2020. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.6%, from 7.1% in June 2021 to 6.5% in July 2021.

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 July of 2020.

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

• Nonagricultural payroll jobs increased by 56,700 from July 2020 to July 2021; a 5.2% increase.
• There was an increase of 6,400 nonagricultural payroll jobs, a 0.6% increase from June 2021 to July 2021.
• When analyzing the numbers by sector, most sectors experienced an increase in the number of jobs compared to last year.

The table below shows that most industries experienced an increase in the number of jobs compared to last year. The industries with the largest gains from June of 2021 include financial activities and transportation, warehousing and utilities. Industries experiencing the largest gains since July of 2020 include leisure and hospitality and professional and other services. This is to be expected as the hospitality industry lost the largest numbers of jobs at the beginning of the pandemic. Construction, and leisure and hospitality show the lowest job growth from June to July of 2021. Construction and government show the lowest job growth from July 2020 to July of 2021.

Nonagricultural Employment MIAMI-MIAMI BEACH-KENDALL MD (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
	June 2021 to July 2021 change	July 2020 to July 2021 change
Industry	Level	Percent	Level	Percent
Leisure and Hospitality	200	0.2%	24,600	26.7%
Professional and Business Services	400	0.2%	16,300	9.5%
Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities	1,200	1.5%	5,600	7.5%
Financial Activities	2,000	2.4%	5,400	6.8%
Education and Health Services	2,200	1.2%	4,800	2.7%
Other Services	0	0%	3,900	8.9%
Retail Trade	200	0.2%	3,200	2.5%
Manufacturing	200	0.5%	800	2%
Information	0	0%	300	1.7%
Wholesale Trade	200	0.3%	200	0.3%
Construction	-600	-1.2%	-3,500	-6.6%
Total Government	400	0.3%	-4,900	-3.6%

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

	July 2021 Unemployment Rate (Not Seasonally Adjusted)	July 2020 to July 2021 Unemployment Rate Change (Not Seasonally Adjusted)
Miami-Dade County	6.5%	-8.7%
Broward County	5.1%	-8.5%
Palm Beach County	4.8%	-6.7%
Florida	5.1%	-6.8%
United States	5.7%	-4.8%

Unemployment Rate Decreases 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 6.9% for July of 2021, which is 8% lower than in June of 2020. This July’s unemployment rate is 0.4% lower than the previous month.

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.