Unemployment in South Florida just hit a record low — but there’s more to the story
The Miami area’s unemployment rate hit 3.0 percent in October — a new record low, and an indication that the region’s economy continues to thrive.
Yet, area residents continue to be beset by cost-of-living issues, according to economics experts.
The new unemployment milestone comes in below the national 3.6% unemployment rate and statewide 3.2% rate. Meanwhile, the number of workers in the region, which includes Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, is also touching record highs, with 3.17 million jobholders.
Ned Murray, associate director of the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, says the latest figures were inevitable.
“We’ve been trending in this direction for a while,” he said.
BLS data from October, the most recent month for which data is available, show job gains in the region have been strongest in healthcare and education, a combined sector that grew by 4.6% between 2018 and 2019. It was followed by professional and business services, at 3.9%, and construction at 3.6%. The three industries combined for a total of nearly 41,000 jobs year over year. South Florida’s 2% overall employment growth over the period bested Atlanta’s 1.9% and the national average of 1.4%.
“Jobs are being created in every sector,” said Jaap Donath, senior vice president, research & strategic planning at the Miami-Dade Beacon Council. “We now have a variety of large industries in Miami-Dade like logistics and life sciences. And those are sectors with higher-paying jobs.”
Abbey Omodunbi, an economist with The PNC Financial Services Group, says the Miami area’s economy is now almost “synchronous” with the nation; when the country is doing well, one can expect South Florida to do well, too.
The reason is that both rely heavily on consumer spending, he said. And right now, spending remains strong, though it is slowing. Monthly consumer spending on a national basis has climbed at least 2% year-on-year nearly every month since 2014, though has slowed from highs of around 3% seen the past few years.
“Because tourism remains central to Miami’s economy, it’s going to continue to be stimulated by consumers,” Omodunbi said.
Local wage growth has also been strong, Omodunbi says, with growth of as much as 8% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2019 — the strongest quarterly wage growth since 2006.
Yet the rosy figures mask a more mixed picture when it comes to being able to maintain a livelihood in the region.
According to figures cited by Omodunbi, Miami-Dade’s cost of living has been increasing since 2012, and is currently about 10% higher than Florida’s cost of living. Bureau of Economic Analysis data confirm the Miami area’s cost of living is eight points higher than the national average, though still well below levels seen in New York or Los Angeles.
And while the regional share of rent-burdened households has declined about 1 percentage point each year since 2011, the current rate, at more than 50%, remains one of the highest in the nation.
“So you can be employed, or describe yourself as fully employed — but unfortunately for many households, we’re talking holding two or even three jobs,” FIU’s Murray said. “So finding a job is not the problem, it’s the income, wages and ability to afford housing and the general cost of living. There, we still have a sizable gap.”
The desire for higher-paying or more upwardly mobile jobs was evident at JobNewsUSA’s most recent hiring event at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, at which approximately 1,300 jobholders showed up.
“Companies are stating that competition is fierce (for qualified workers),” said JobNewsUSA.com coordinator Tiffany Cordeschi. “So they have to get their name in front of the passive job seeker — someone already employed but looking for an upgrade. And they’re finding them.”
Donath believes there is room for unemployment to fall even further, thanks to programs like the Beacon Council’s new Community Ventures initiative targeting underserved areas. Murray also cited this as a key step toward improving the local jobs picture.
“We are moving in the right direction,” Donath said.
