Miami-Dade County gained more than 5,000 new jobs,
despite monthly increase in the unemployment rate
(Miami, FL – January 20, 2012) Despite Miami-Dade County’s slight increase in the unemployment rate from November to December 2011, the county gained 5,200 new jobs.
“We are encouraged that we continue to see a positive trend in jobs being added,” said Frank Nero, President and CEO of The Beacon Council. “Clearly, the unemployment rate is still unacceptably high, but we are encouraged by the five straight months of positive job growth.”
The numbers analyzed
Between December 2010 and December 2011, Miami-Dade County gained 18,200 new nonagricultural jobs, an increase of 1.8 percent. The community added 5,200 new nonagricultural jobs between November 2011 and December 2011, an increase of 0.5 percent. Our community had the second largest year over year gain in the State of Florida after the Tampa area.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (taking in consideration seasonal fluctuations in the labor force) in December 2011 was the same rate as November 2011 – 10.2 percent. This is almost three percentage points lower than the unemployment rate in December 2010 (13.1 percent). However, the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December 2011 was 10.3 percent – an increase of 0.8 percentage points from November 2011 (9.5 percent).
The December 2011 unemployment rate for the State of Florida was 9.7 percent. This was a decrease of 0.1 percentage points compared to November 2011. The United States unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in December 2011 compared to 8.2 percent in November 2011.
For neighboring Broward County, the unemployment rate in December 2011 was 8.6 percent. This is a decrease of 0.3 percentage points from November 2011 and a decrease of 1.6 percentage points compared to December 2010. For Palm Beach County, it was 9.7 percent. This was a decrease of 0.4 percentage points compared to November 2011 and a decrease of 1.9 percentage points compared to December 2010.
The overall unemployment rate for the tri-county area in December 2011 was 9.6 percent (9.4 percent in November 2011). The South Florida region (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach MSA) added 26,700 non-agricultural jobs between December 2010 and December 2011. Between November 2011 and December 2011 the region gained 10,600 jobs.
Non-agricultural companies in Miami-Dade County added 18,200 new jobs between December 2010 and December 2011, an increase of 1.8 percent. During this time frame, several sectors saw improvements including Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities, Professional and Business Services, and Leisure and Hospitality. Construction lost 600 jobs and Information lost 500 jobs. Financial Activity and Manufacturing lost 3,200 and 900 jobs respectively between December 2010 and December 2011.
|
Sector
|
December 2010 – December 2011 Job Change (% Change)
|
|
Professional & Business Services
|
4,700 (+3.6%)
|
|
Retail Trade
|
3,900 (+3.1%)
|
|
Wholesale Trade
|
2,700 (+3.9%)
|
|
Hospitals
|
2,400 (+5.6%)
|
|
Ambulatory Health Care Services
|
1,700 (+3.3%)
|
|
Leisure and Hospitality
|
1,700 (+1.6%)
|
|
Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities
|
1,400 (+2.4%)
|
|
Local Government
|
1,100 (+1.0%)
|
|
State Government
|
200 (+1.1%)
|
|
Federal Government
|
100 (+0.5%)
|
Between November 2011 and December 2011, 5,200 jobs were added or a 0.5 percent increase. Major sectors that added jobs between November 2011 and December 2011 included Manufacturing, Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities, and Professional and Business Services. The major sectors that lost jobs between November 2011 and December 2011 were Leisure and Hospitality (500 jobs lost or 0.5 percent decline) and Financial Activities (200 jobs lost or 0.3 percent decline).
|
Sector
|
November 2011 – December 2011 Job Change (% Change)
|
|
Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities
|
1,500 (+2.5%)
|
|
Professional and Business Services
|
1,200 (+0.9%)
|
|
Wholesale Trade
|
1,100 (+1.6%)
|
|
Retail Trade
|
800 (+0.6%)
|
|
Federal Government
|
200 (+1.0%)
|
|
Local Government
|
100 (+0.1%)
|
|
Manufacturing
|
100 (+0.3%)
|
|
State Government
|
100 (+0.6%)
|
From the data and analysis above we see that there is continued improvement in the local economy, but the community needs to remain focused on job creation projects in a wide variety of sectors in order to create additional well paying new job opportunities for people looking for work that will allow for them and their families to enjoy the quality of life in Miami-Dade County. The Beacon Council continues to aggressively work on attracting new companies to our community and working on the expansion and retention of existing business. We promote Miami-Dade County as a global business center through our “
Miami: Where Worlds Meet
” campaign. We strongly urge that a top focus of both the public and private sector continues to be on the retention and recruitment of new jobs.
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