South Florida’s jobs picture brightened as the economy reopened, says latest report
Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate fell from 11.8% to 11.3% as it added approximately 5,300 jobs in May amid reopening measures, according to the latest release from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metro area added workers across most sectors. Leisure and hospitality led the way, with an increase of 11,500 jobs. Other industries with significant upticks included construction (+3,800, up 7.5%) and health and personal care stores (+400, up 3.4%). Catch-all categories like administrative, support and waste services and “other services” also saw large increases between April and May. These figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Miami-Dade’s recovery remains far from complete. Those who are working may not be getting as many hours as they did before COVID, said Ned Murray, associate director of the Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center, via an email. The May uptick was expected as the county began reopening, Murray said.
Hardest hit last month in Miami-Dade were jobs in hotels, which saw net job losses of -17.8%, or 2,700 jobs, in May. The state’s layoff notice website has been filled with letters from hotels, especially on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, announcing further indefinite layoffs.
Other categories with month-to-month net job losses in May in Miami-Dade were air transportation (-1.9%), telecommunications (-1.8%), government (-0.6%), hospitals (-0.4%) and financial activities (-0.1%).
And despite the overall month-to-month gains in Miami-Dade, most Miami-Dade industries’ employment levels remain well below where they were this time one year ago. For instance, though leisure and hospitality employment surged by 14.3% from April to 91,800 total jobs, that industry remains more than 37% below its May 2019 employment level.
Hotel jobs have been hardest hit: That sector is 62.2% below its May 2019 levels.
Among trade, transportation, and utility jobs, the 273,100 employment level is down 8.7% from a year ago.
And manufacturing, which last year comprised 3.5% of the county’s workforce, has also seen significant losses over the past 12 months: Since last May employment is down nearly 15%. Miami-Dade’s manufacturing sector failed to add any new net jobs from April 2020, and now comprises 3.3% of the county’s workforce.
Statewide, Florida added a total of 182,900 jobs in May, as reopening commenced. The state’s unemployment rate climbed to 14.5% —higher than the national rate of 13.3% and up from Florida’s April rate of 13.8%. The rate increased as workers rejoined the labor force but were still seeking jobs; the labor force comprises both employed and unemployed workers searching for work. There were a total of 1,412,000 jobless Floridians last month, out of a labor force of 9,709,000.
Food services and drinking places led with 118,300 jobs added across the state — an increase of 25.6%. Ambulatory healthcare services, like outpatient centers, added 26,000 jobs, up 5.6%. Florida’s labor force climbed by 237,000 to a participation rate of 55% in May from 53.8% in April.
“Florida’s labor statistics changed significantly in May as many businesses began to reopen or increase their available services following closures due to COVID-19 in March and April,” the DEO said in its release.
In Broward, the unemployment rate climbed from 14.9% to 16%, while in Monroe County, the rate remained unchanged at 17.7%. Both of these counties also added jobs month on month — Broward 30,695, Monroe about 1,000 — but also saw their ranks of unemployed climb as workers reentered the labor force and began looking for jobs. Broward’s labor force increased by 48,000 workers in May, while Monroe County’s increased about 1,200.
Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Forecasting, said the reason for the positive economic news was straightforward.
“The numbers for May, June and July are just going to be a function of the reopening of the economy,” he said. “Those businesses able to reopen are rehiring employees. ... In June you’re probably going to see more evidence that these rollbacks are helping to restart these sectors of the economy.”
The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic may be bottoming out in Florida. But significant job losses have continued. The state recently passed 2 million individual unemployment filers, representing about 23% of the state’s workforce, though some of these appeared to have returned to work as the state began its phased reopening. Still, according to the state’s layoff announcement site, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts alone laid off nearly 7,000 workers on May 4, while Carnival Corp. announced cuts totaling more than 1,000 workers.
And the state’s labor force remains a fraction of where it was in May 2019. The state’s labor force is now 9,709,000 strong — down -5.5% from the same month last year, when there were 10,275,000 workers.
“If you were a worker in a sector where there were restrictions, there’s no place else to go,” Snaith said. “If you’re a bartender, and lost your job, it’s not because of anything that happened in the establishment, so there’s no sense in putting out applications when nobody’s hiring.”
For this reason, Snaith said, the unemployment rate could still climb next month as more workers rejoin the labor force but may still be unable to find work.
Many small businesses may never reopen, Snaith said.
“So a firm that may have had temporary furloughs, those furloughs may become permanent for those employees if firms don’t make it through.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 10:33 AM.
