Miami Unemployment Rate Hits 1.7 Percent, Lowest Nationwide

·55 Comments

Miami has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, according to an April 5 release by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The agency said that Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division unemployment rate stood at 1.7 percent in February, which was the lowest of any metropolitan division nationwide.

The unemployment rate for the entire Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area stood at 2.2 percent, which was tied for lowest of any metro area nationwide.

Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall also enjoyed the third biggest increase in employment in February, up 4.4 percent (behind only Dallas-Plano-Irving and Fort Worth).

 

Tags
Related
55 Comments
most voted
newest oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Anonymous
1 month ago

Time to raise salaries across the board in Miami.

29
Anonymous
1 month ago

They already have risen.

-19
Anonymous
1 month ago

are you gonna join the Bed Pan Changers Union Local 90210? bahahahah

1
Anonymous
1 month ago

You’ll enjoy paying 15 dollars at Taco Bell with service that refuses to speak English.

-2
Anonymous
1 month ago

He probably works at a Taco Bell or somewhere similar given his level of basic economic understanding. Just raising incomes will simply lead to more inflation.

1
Ana
1 month ago

or time to increase housing, demand is through the roof

3
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

****insert image of Bernie wagging his finger*****

5
Anonymous
1 month ago

Low unemployment is good, but remember that it is the single most inflationary factor that you could have. No wonder that all new restaurants in Miami are priced at +$100 per meal per person, and drinks starting at $25 in most places. Barbershops that used to be $12 are now $45 for a men’s cut. And then there is real estate prices and rents that still haven’t started to decrease. All that can’t go down with unemployment at 1.7%. That’s why the Fed is trying to tame the economy. You cannot reduce inflationary pressures without somehow damaging the workforce. Finding the right balance is what is most important.

22
Urbanist
1 month ago

Housing is directly related to this, too. As housing rates jump through the roof, workers are forced to pay the higher costs. These higher costs are passed directly on to consumers.

We need the City of Miami and Miami Dade County to step up and allow more density in more places.

So many places near MetroRail allow ONLY single family homes – which is not the highest and best use of the land there.

6
Anonymous
1 month ago

and we have to go vertical, not just more dense, thats not enough and its small minded West Coast thinking.

0
Anonymous
1 month ago

The single most effective way to fix housing would be to ban Airbnb all over the county. And then what you said. There are dozens of thousands of units and houses that could be used for Miami residents that are currently being used to host ghetto tourists. It’s ironic from me to say it because I own 3 properties that I use for short term rental, but at the same time I see its effects on society. I wouldn’t mind the ban, I’d embrace the good run I’ve had so far if it would bring a healthier housing market in the city that I love.

1
Anon
1 month ago

We have some of the most progressive, pro-density zoning laws in the entire country. None of that matters if more than 50% of units hitting the market are for investors to keep vacant or list on AirBnb

0
Anoonoomoos
1 month ago

Imagine thinking NAIRU is a good thing that should exist. How cruel of a perspective to believe too many people are employed.

3
Anonymous
1 month ago

A few get temporarily sacrificed for the greater good. Life is cruel, wear a cup.

1
Name*
1 month ago

Did you get a vaccine or wear a mask for the greater good? Because if you didn’t, then you truly don’t care about the greater good and it’s a cop out argument. If you want unemployment to go up to 5% that’s roughly 11,000,000 Americans out of work. That’s hardly “a few”.

0
Anonymous
1 month ago

11,000,000 out of 330,000,000—start saving up now

1
Finance Bro
1 month ago

Even UBS published in March that profit margins are driving inflation rather than record unemployment.

4
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

Profit margins fueled by elevated consumer spending fueled by high employment levels and rising incomes.

-2
Finance Bro
1 month ago

There’s a difference between profit and profit margins. When the margins increase beyond production costs, that means the price is artificially higher than it needs to be. They’re abusing the elasticity of demand of basic commodities like food and shelter. Read the UBS report for yourself. I was mistaken, though, it was published in Q4 2022, not last month.

1
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

A lot easier to raise profit margins when you got more customers that have more money to spend due to higher employment levels and rising wages.

-4
Anonymous
1 month ago

So what are the unemployed people supposed to do then? Live off government assistance?

0
Anoony
1 month ago

Yeah, these people don’t think through their own arguments.

0
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

Live off of savings while looking for work.

-3
Anonymous
1 month ago

What savings? Over 60% of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

2
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

The smart 40% will do what I said. Can’t help the dummies. Does it look on the streets like over 60% of Americans are destitute? Of course not. Keeping up with the Joneses has a big cost come recession time.

-1
KevinNash92
1 month ago

Good news, but before popping champagne let’s keep in mind how many of those jobs are underpaid jobs (versus the national rate) and how many people have left the workforce.

Wages need to go up to attract higher quality applicants and to offset the brutal rise in inflation

11
Anonymous
1 month ago

Raising wages without a corresponding rise in worker productivity will just result in further inflation and the cycle will continue.

-7
Anoonoomoos
1 month ago

Productivity has been increasing steadily for decades. What are you on?

8
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

What are YOU on? Productivity growth had been slow along with wage growth for the last few decades until the pandemic came along, and then productivity growth remained slow while wages took off.

-5
Finance Bro
1 month ago

You could just say you don’t read the data. Go to the 4th graph under “graphics”

https://www.bls.gov/productivity/#:~:text=Productivity%20increased%201.7%20percent%20in,labor%20costs%20increased%207.7%20percent.

2
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

You could just say you don’t even read what YOU YOURSELF post a link to.

“Total factor productivity decreases 1.2% in 2022, following a 4.0% increase in 2021”–yet wages increased in 2022.

Also: “Productivity increases 1.7% in Q4 2022; unit labor costs increase 3.2% (annual rates)”

-4
Finance Bro
1 month ago

Ignore the 4th graph by all means, Bro. You’re talking about a very micro scale. I’m talking longitudinally. Real wages have not kept up with real labor output over the last 50 years.

You can be rude and scream all you want with your all caps, but being louder doesn’t make you more correct. The fact of the matter is, wages and salaries have not kept up with both worker output and inflation over the last four to five decades. We are having two very different discussions. I am talking about real wages and salaries over the last 50 years and stagnant growth. You’re talking about the last 2 years of productivity slowdown. If you thinks a 3.2% increase in per unit labor costs is a lot considering wages have failed to keep up over the last 50 years, then you’re a joke.

1
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

You can be condescending and rude and say I don’t read the data, but YOUR OWN data prove your wrong! Productivity has remained stable while wages have risen proportionately MORE since Covid. That’s the point. Now you’re claiming to be talking about 50 YEARS in a hard backpedal–damn you’re a joke. Quit while you’re still behind.

-1
Finance Bro
1 month ago

It’s not a hard back peddle. The original argument was productivity outpaced real wages over *decades*. Then, I pointed you to a graph that began in 1973. It’s okay to admit you can’t comprehend the context of the original comments. You cannot honestly look at the 4th graph and tell me productivity and wages have gone up at the same pace. If you think they have after revisiting the graph, then it’s clear your lack competence to understand basic line graphs. Productivity has a much steeper climb than wages; wages have been left behind. Did you even bother to read the UBS report? Are you going to tell me UBS economists don’t know what they’re talking about too?

https://www.ubs.com/global/en/wealth-management/insights/chief-investment-office/market-insights/paul-donovan/_jcr_content/mainpar/toplevelgrid_1847870123/col1/teaser_826301810_cop/linklist/link.0905296706.file/PS9jb250ZW50L2RhbS9hc3NldHMvd20vZ2xvYmFsL2Npby9tYXJrZXQtaW5zaWdodHMvZG9jL3doYXQtaXMtcHJvZml0LWxlZC1pbmZsYXRpb24tbWFyY2gtMjAyMy5wZGY=/what-is-profit-led-inflation-march-2023.pdf

1
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

My post that you responded to stated “Raising wages without a corresponding rise in worker productivity will just result in further inflation and the cycle will continue.” That’s 100% economic FACT.

Now you are BACKPEDALLING to claim that welllll you really meant last 50 years, not since covid when both wages AND inflation took off. Wages had been relatively flat from 1973 until 2020. No shit. My post that you responded to had NOTHING to do with 1973. Stop deflecting.

1
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

That was NOT the original argument. My statement you responded to is about what’s happened post covid, NOT all that’s happened since 1973. Stop backpedalling.

Since you like cut n paste, here’s just of one of many you should read. He agrees with what I’ve stated here, but you the “Finance Bro” disagree with us:

https://www.econlib.org/the-new-york-times-on-rising-wages/

“Not only is productivity growth a necessary and sufficient condition for rising wages, it also accounts for their present levels.”

Rapidly rising wages without a corresponding rapid rise in productivity leads to inflation.

-2
Finance Bro
1 month ago

1. The original post said “Productivity has been increasing for decades.” You moved the goalposts by shifting focus to the last 2 years.

2. I posted UBS, a major financial corporation that answers to shareholders, and BLS, a government agency for statistical data. You posted a libertarian think tank, which is biased. Try again.

0
Anonymous
1 month ago

Wrong:
1) The original post said this:” Raising wages without a corresponding rise in worker productivity will just result in further inflation and the cycle will continue.” You shifted the goal posts to say something irrelevant and incorrect—productivity has been increasing modestly since 1973, and wages also have increased modestly from 1973 up until covid, when wages rose faster and inflatin also rose whil productivity continued to rise slowly. Doubting you have the necessary cranial folds between your ears to understand this.
2) You posted a link to the Bank of SWITZERLAND….this is America. Don’t try again, it’s embarrasing.

-1
Finance Bro
1 month ago

1) It is abundantly clear to me now that you don’t see how the failure of wages and salaries to keep up with productivity over the last 5 decades is extremely relevant to your hot take that 2 years of productivity decline should invalidate overdue wage and salary increases from the previous 48 years. If wages and salaries stayed commensurate with productivity over the last 50 years, far less people would be broke or complaining that their wages today are not high enough, regardless of productivity dips or increases over the last 2 years. If you can’t comprehend these two things are actually related, then I don’t know how to make it any simpler for you to understand.

2) Last time I checked, Americans use UBS’ services and it’s traded on the US Stock Exchange; Americans have financial skin in their game. If you want to invalidate a company that employs and increases wealth for millions of Americans, then be my guest. At least I didn’t post a political think tank and try to pass it off as a valid, authoritative source.

-1
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

1)It is abundantly clear that you merely want to push your populist agenda rather than acknowledge the fact that raising wages without a CORRESPONDING (look up that word’s definition) increase in productivity (never said there was no rise in productivity) leads to higher inflation. Meanwhile, poverty rates are near record lows:
https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states

Is UC Davis liberal biased enough for you?

2) YOUR OWN LINK went against what you state—wages DID surge past productivity increases, and whaddayaknow! Inflation spiked during the same time frame. I drew cause and effect from this. The thread topic is today’s low unemployment rate. You went on a woe is the workers for the last half-century rant.

0
Finance Bro
1 month ago

If I was a liberal, would I be putting an investment bank on a pedestal? You’ve made a lot of gross assumptions without even doing a little bit of basic logical reasoning. The left doesn’t care about or respect large corporations like UBS. I have a masters in economics and decades of finance experience. Perhaps you find it hard to believe that people who probably vote like you can disagree with you on certain things because they actually have education and real world experience behind them to inform them.
Additionally, the UC Davis link uses Census Bureau data, which utilizes self-reported survey data. Without knowing what the margin of error and the coefficient of variation is, it’s hard to say how reliable the data is. This also excludes homeless people, so the poverty rate is automatically understated. Finally, poverty rates are based on ratios of income. The income does not vary by geography, meaning the threshold of poverty would have the same nominal income dollar amount in an affordable place to live like Ocala as it would in an expensive urban place like Miami. The 2022 poverty threshold is a household income of $35,801 (per the Census, which is hyperlinked in the UC Davis link). So you could have a household of 4 living off $36,000 in Miami and that would not be considered living in poverty. Do you see how that’s a problem?

-1
Anonymous
1 month ago

Real world is seeing TODAY how handing workers more money without a corresponding increase in productivity has lead to overall inflation. Not the only cause of today’s inflation, but a big contributor. Workers have been getting higher wage rate increases over the years since covid then that which they averaged 1973-2020, while productivity did not similarly spike. This wage increase is due to the unusually low unemployment rates since covid. Workers can now demand more in wages then their own productivity calls for. Wage inflation leads to higher prices in the world.

Perhaps you’re older and out of the game now, but I can tell you first hand that the job market is tighter now by far than ever in my 30 years of working, and when I interview candidates their demands for wages and perks have shot up tremendously in the last couple years. Have had to offer 25% more salary in the last couple years to get takers, and this extra salary is being paid out not because these new candidates are all of a sudden 25% more productive but because the applicant pool is 1/3 of the size it was a few years ago. So product/service prices must be raised to cover the payroll increases. It’s not as if the new hires are saving or making the company that more than before. The excess of wage growth over productivity growth is inflationary.

We can argue cut n paste web finds all day long, but the Fed Reserve sees it my way. They’re increasing the fed funds rate to bring unemployment up to ease wage pressures and cull spending in their effort to bring inflation down. Don’t like my line of thinking? Take it up with the Federal Reserve, and be sure to tell them you got a Masters in Econ and years in finance and that you are informed.

My undergrad is in Economics, went into tech out of school. Finance? I always pay cash.

1
Common Sense Bro
1 month ago

Most here don’t understand basic economics, and they should shift back to Metromover discussions and drag show cheerleading. It’s more up their alley.

1
Not Anonymous
1 month ago

Let’s hope it stays that way 🤞 Miami Winning!

5
Name*
1 month ago

There used to be a nice old 3 storey bay window apartment building there. Maybe it was crummy but this new yotel thing is worse than melo architecture and even includes those very shallow almost fake balconies.

2
Anonymous
1 month ago

As bad as the base is, at least the windows line up and there’s no blank walls plastered with loud murals. But yeah, it was amazing how long the old Johnson Apartments stood considering many more historic and high-profile buildings were leveled.

0
Anon
1 month ago

Let’s go Miami !!!

1
Hella
1 month ago

question, is this based on the people collecting unemployment? or some other calculation…..

-3
Cover the Podiums
1 month ago

nah 1.7% is crazy. Also, love the shot of the prison in the background

-5
Anonymous
1 month ago

that’s not a prison

4
ñero
1 month ago

looks like one. hell it looks even more depressing than the apartment buildings in bogotá.

0
Cover the Podiums
1 month ago

they didn’t understand the sarcasm

3
Anthony
1 month ago

Thank you Joe Biden an more good news to come with the infrastructure money voming

-5
Anonymous
1 month ago

Thank the Dumb and Dumber Mayors of NYC and Chicago too.

0
Shusmita
1 month ago

👏🏻👏👏🏼👏🏿👏🏿👏🏽👏🏾 thank you GRD!

-6