Miami Jobs

The southern part of Florida lost more jobs over the last year than anywhere else in the state. According to a state Agency for Workforce Innovation report, the unemployment rate climbed in all three counties. Approximately 20,800 Florida jobs were lost in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metropolitan area since March 2007. The Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater area employers did away with 17,300 positions.

Despite the loss of Miami jobs over the last year, the unemployment rate saw modest improvement in March as it dropped from 3.9 percent to 3.8 percent. Nevertheless, this is still higher than the previous year’s jobless rate of 3.5 percent.

Most of the Miami jobs lost were in the construction industry, which made up 59 percent of the state’s employment losses. Throughout Florida 82,100 positions were lost in this industry between March 2007 and March 2008. Following construction, manufacturing lost the second most opportunities for employment. Both of these industries have been greatly effected by the area’s floundering housing market.

The largest increase in Miami jobs and those elsewhere in the state came in education and health services, which added 35,100 positions throughout Florida, followed by government, which grew by 24,400 jobs, and leisure and hospitality added 17,500 jobs. Nevertheless, the state is still short 56,600 jobs from the previous year.

Despite the increased employment in education, many Miami jobs in this area are expected to soon be done away with. In a recent Miami-Dade County School Board meeting a $14 million budget cut was voted on and approved. Before May the district plans on doing away 164 Miami jobs, mostly those of school psychologists and social workers.

Officials said that these layoffs will not be the last. There are already plans in the making for another, much larger, decrease in funds which is expected to occur in May of this year. Although the first is not expected to effect the quality of the district’s schools, there is no word yet if Miami teaching jobs will be effected in May’s budget cuts. The Board’s ultimate goal is to decrease the district’s spending by approximately $200 million by next year.