Miami-Dade construction jobs soar but employment slips

Written by Miami Today on December 30, 2024

Miami-Dade County’s labor force contracted in November, as did employment, but the red-hot construction industry ran counter to the trends and added more than 10% to its jobs total in the past 12 months, new data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reveal.

In the good news column, the strong growth of construction jobs was followed by a mild growth of jobs in most categories during the 12 months ended in November. In only two sectors – manufacturing and financial activities – did jobs actually decline in the 12-month span.

But in the bigger picture, the county showed some weaknesses. The total county workforce fell by 24,400 persons from October to November, down to 1,370,100 workers. That left the workforce down 35,000 persons from its record high in May.

Meanwhile, the total number of people employed has dipped to 1,337,962 workers, which is the lowest figure since 1,335,274 in January 2023 as the county was pulling out of the covid pandemic.

As is normal, the federal figures come with no explanations for highlights or changes.

The construction peak of 64,200 jobs in November was the most ever in Miami-Dade, up 10.5% in just 12 months as the number rises along with buildings appearing on the county’s skyline. The former high in construction jobs was 63,900 in September.

Unemployment in the county rose in November to 2.4% of the smaller workforce. The number had been 2.2% in October and 2.1% in September – marked gains from the 3.1% unemployment in both July and August.

Gains in employment for the 12 months ended in November included:

■Trade, transportation and utilities, up 0.8% to 330,600 jobs.

■Professional and business services, up 2.1% to 217,500 jobs.

■Education and health services, up 2.5% to 225,200 jobs.

■Leisure and hospitality, up 3.3% to 155,000 jobs.

Other gainers were government, a large category of other services, and information.

Manufacturing lost 6.1% of its jobs in the year to 44,500 and financial activities lost 0.9% of its jobs to 94,700.