During July 2020, the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Miami-Dade County was 14.2 percent. From July 2019 to July 2020, the County had a reduction of 75,900 nonagricultural payroll jobs (not seasonally adjusted), which indicate a 6.3 percentage point decrease. From June 2020 to July 2020, there was a reduction of 7,700, which is a 0.7% decrease of nonagricultural payroll jobs.
Non-agricultural Payroll Jobs
Due to the impact of COVID-19, there continues to be a sharp decline in non-agricultural payroll jobs throughout most industries when comparing year over year (July 2019 with July 2020). The sectors most affected are Leisure & Hospitality (-32,400), Professional & Business Services (-12,300), Education & Health Services (-9,500), Retail Trade (-9,400), Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities (-5,900), Other Services (-3,300), and Manufacturing (-2,900). The sectors seeing some improvements in the past 12 months are Construction (+1,500), and Financial Activities (+1,400). The graph below shows the payroll data since July 2018.
From July 2019 to July 2020 there was a reduction of 75,900 non-agricultural payroll jobs. From June 2020 to July 2020 there was a reduction of 7,700 non-agricultural payroll jobs.
The change in non-agricultural payroll job between June 2020 and July 2020 shows that several sectors have added jobs, including in sectors that were the hardest hit during the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. These sectors include Other Services (+1,700), Manufacturing (+1,400) and Retail Trade (+1,000).
| Sector | July 2019- July 2020 | June 2020 – July 2020 |
| Construction | +1,500 (+2.8%) | -1,300 (-2.3%) |
| Financial Activities | +1,400 (+1.7%) | +400 (+0.5%) |
| Information | -300 (-1.5%) | -500 (-2.4%) |
| Total Government | -400 (-0.3%) | -1,000 (-0.7%) |
| Wholesale Trade | -2,500 (-3.4%) | -600 (-0.8%) |
| Manufacturing | -2,900 (-6.8%) | +1,400 (+3.7%) |
| Other Services | -3,300 (-6.5%) | +1,700 (+3.7%) |
| Transportation, Warehousing, & Utilities | -5,900 (-7.0%) | +100 (+0.1%) |
| Retail Trade | -9,400 (-6.6%) | +1,000 (+0.8%) |
| Education & Health Services | -9,500 (-5.1%) | -900 (-0.5%) |
| Professional & Business Services | -12,300 (-6.8%) | -1,700 (-1.0%) |
| Leisure and Hospitality | -32,400 (-22.6%) | -6,300 (-5.4%) |
Not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
The not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 14.2 percent compared to last year was 11.6 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate at 2.6 percent in July 2019. Compared to June 2020 there was a 2.4 percentage point increase from the unemployment rate at 11.8 percent. Below the graph compares the unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County with that of the United States since July 2018. It shows that Miami-Dade County was tracking the unemployment rate of the United States at a slightly higher rate until November 2018 through May 2020. In July 2020, Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate is 3.7 percentage points higher than the United States.
| July 2020 Unemployment Rate (Not Seasonally Adjusted) | July 2019 toJuly 2020 Unemployment Rate Change (Not Seasonally Adjusted) | |
| Miami-Dade County | 14.2% | +11.6% |
| Broward County | 13.1% | +9.8% |
| Palm Beach County | 11.6% | +8.0% |
| Florida | 11.5% | +8.1% |
| United States | 10.5% | +6.5% |
Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
In July 2020, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County (taking seasonal fluctuations in the labor force into consideration) was 13.9 percent, which is 11.6 percentage points higher than in July 2019.
From the data and analysis above, we continued to observe the impact of COVID-19 in our local economy. Nevertheless, 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.
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.