2. 2
Introduction
Miami-Dade County is settled at the Southern tip of Florida spanning over 2,000 square
miles, making it one of the largest counties in the country.Of the 2.6 million people that live
in this county,most of them are employed with foodand service industries.
Much of this county is dominated by coastal land, while the other large majority is taken by
the Everglades. Such access to waterwaysallows this county to be a major hub for water
transportation. A large portion of income the county receives comes from being able to
import and export out of their shipyards.
Miami Beach, specifically South Beach, is world-renowned.With their picturesque beaches
and art deco style hotels, South Beach attracts nearly 15 million visitors per year1. This
explains the high levelof foodand service industry employment.
Being such a major city,sports teams draw in travellers from all around to comesee games.
This county is home to the Miami Marlins, the Miami Heat, the Miami Dolphins and the
Florida Panthers. Also, the University of Miami is well knownfor their football team, which
reaches fans far outside of the county.
With more than 16,000 students, the University of Miami is located in the city of Coral
Gables, just south of Miami Beach. Along withbeing a nationally ranked university, the
University of Miami is known forbeing on the cutting edge of medical research withtheir
school of medicine being ranked in the top 40 National Institutes of Health in the country2.
The university is also the largest employer in the county employing almost 13,000 people.
The county also houses many other public and private universities.
The second largest employer in the county is Baptist Health South Florida withover 11,000
employees. Because of the high level of tourism the county receives, it makes sense that
American Airlines, employing over 11,000 people, is the third largest employer in the
county.Also, Carnival Cruises comes in at number fouremploying 3,500 people3.
The next section will provide insight into the Miami-Dade County economy.This includes
employment trends, important industries and commuting patterns. The report will
conclude withpolicy recommendations to further improve on the economic development
efforts.
3
3 http://www.partners.miamiandbeaches.com
2 http://www.miami.edu
3 http://www.beaconcouncil.com
3. 3
Profile of theMiami-DadeCountyEconomy
Employment in Miami-Dade County grew about 5 percent between 2001 and 2014 from
about 998,000 to 1.05 million (Chart 1). Employmentdeclined drastically, about 6 percent,
between 2008 and 2010 due to the national recession. After declining to a low of about
947,000 in 2010, employment steadily increased each followingyear by about 2.5 percent
and is now at an all-time high.
Chart 1. Miami-Dade County Total Employment
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
In chart 2, wesee total employment trends in the United States between 2001 and 2014. We
see the impact of the national recession between 2008 and 2010. During this time, 5 percent
of total employment was lost. As stated earlier, Miami-Dade County observed slightly higher
levels of employment loss during the recession at about 6 percent.
Chart 2. United States Total Employment
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
880,000
900,000
920,000
940,000
960,000
980,000
1,000,000
1,020,000
1,040,000
1,060,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
122,000,000
124,000,000
126,000,000
128,000,000
130,000,000
132,000,000
134,000,000
136,000,000
138,000,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
4. 4
Miami-Dade County trade, transportation and utility wages have grown almost
perfectly in sync with national averages while remaining slightly higher in each
year. In 2001, wages are almost exactly the same (Chart 3). After 2002, we see
Miami-Dade County begin to emerge with a faster growth rate than the national
average, reaching the largest gap in wages in 2006 with Miami-Dade County having
a wage 6 percent higher than the national average.
Chart 3. Average Weekly Trade, Transportation and Utility Wage, U.S. and Miami-Dade
County
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Chart 4 displays employment data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).This gives a
more accurate depiction of real employment in a given industry. These growth patterns
differ fromChart 1 due to their constant increase in employment. We observed Miami-Dade
County suffer significant employment losses across all sectors during the national recession,
yet these sectors appear relatively unaffected.Educational services suffered slightly in 2010
but are since increasing.
Chart 4. Miami-Dade County Selected Sector Employment, Healthcare and Educational
Services
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Miami-Dade National
5. 5
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Total Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by NAICS
Industry
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) classifies business
establishments. NAICS considers wholesale trade as establishments focusing on wholesaling
merchandise. This includes outputs of mining, manufacturing and agriculture. Retail trade is
classified as retailers with a fixed location.These stores typically sell merchandise to the
general public. 4 Chart 5 shows employment trends in these industries more closely follow
the national trend of employment.
Chart 5. Miami-Dade County Selected Sector Employment, Wholesale and Retail Trade
4 bea.gov
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Healthcare Educational Services
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Wholesale Trade Retail Trade
6. 6
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Total Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by NAICS
Industry
Chart 6 examines the national averages in Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Educational
Services and Health Care and Social Assistance.
Chart 6. United States Selected Sector Employment
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Total Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by NAICS
Industry
Chart 7 gives a clearer visual of the four major selected sectors for Miami-Dade County.
These patterns are consistent with the growth rates seen in the national employment data.
Between 2008 and 2009, in the retail trade sector wesee a 4 percent drop in employment in
Chart 7, while we observe a 6 percent drop in the national employment average in the same
sector in Chart 6. From 2001 to 2014, the health care and social assistance sector grew
about 27 percent nationally, but grew 32 percent in Miami-Dade County.
Chart 7. Miami-Dade County Selected Sector Employment
0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
25,000,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Wholesale Trade Retail Trade
Educational Services Health Care and Social Assistance
7. 7
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Total Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by NAICS
Industry
Location quotients (LQ’s) are used to measure the relative concentration of employment in
a given region.5 An LQ that is higher than one indicates that there is a higher percentage of
employment in that region than the United States does as a whole. The higher the LQ,the
more presence that industry holds in the county.Table 1 displays industries in Miami-Dade
County that have higher than average locationquotients. Air transportation has an
extremely high LQ with 4.75. Several different types of stores also hold a significant
presence in Miami-Dade County with their location quotients spanning from1.13 to 2.10.
Real estate and merchant wholesalers have locationquotients between 1.69 and 1.82,
meaning they have a 69 to 82 percent higher concentration in Miami-Dade County than the
national average. Insurance carriers and credit intermediation activities have a slightly
higher concentration in Miami-Dade County than the national average.
Table 1. Miami-Dade County High Concentrated Industries
NAICS Sub-Sector Employment
Average
Wages LQ
NAICS 483 Water transportation 8,804 $79,498 16.54
NAICS 481 Air transportation 15,894 $74,452 4.75
NAICS 515 Broadcasting, except internet 5,264 $90,304 2.57
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment
and Wages
5
US
US
local
local
LQ
empltotal
emplsector
empltotal
emplsector
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
180,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Wholesale Trade Retail Trade
Educational Services Health Care and Social Assistance
8. 8
Table 1. Miami-Dade County High Concentrated Industries
NAICS 443 Electronics and appliance stores 7,728 $40,542 2.10
NAICS 424 Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods 27,234 $58,857 1.82
NAICS 446 Health and personal care stores 13,466 $33,550 1.77
NAICS 531 Real estate 19,095 $50,513 1.69
NAICS 442 Furniture and home furnishings stores 4,932 $34,696 1.46
NAICS 315 Apparel manufacturing 1,303 $32,861 1.30
NAICS 445 Food and beverage stores 28,783 $22,106 1.27
NAICS 522 Credit intermediation and related activities 22,288 $79,248 1.19
NAICS 524 Insurance carriers and related activities 18,786 $70,398 1.14
NAICS 452 General merchandise stores 26,163 $22,770 1.13
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Due to the coastal access of the county,it is not surprising that water transportation has an
extremely high location quotient. Much of the country does not have as much access to the
water; therefore the concentration in this county is extremely significant.
Miami-Dade County is a destination visited frequently from people around the world.Air
transportation is an industry that has a concentration almost 5 times higher than the
national average. American Airlines, one of the countries largest airlines, has a hub in this
county as well, employing thousands of people.
Retail-related sectors hold the majority of the sectors with a high location quotient. This is
not surprising due to the amount of tourism in this county.
Real estate has a 69 percent higher concentrationin Miami-Dade County than the national
average. The climate in this county makes it an ideal locationto live or buy additional
vacationproperty.
Table 2 displays sectors in Miami-Dade County with locationquotients of .25 or less. This
means that these industries only have 25 percent or less of a concentrationin Miami-Dade
County than the national average.
We see here that manufacturing is not a front-running industry in Miami-Dade County.
Primary metal manufacturing has a location quotient of only .16. It is slightly surprising that
animal production and aquaculture has a location quotient of only .07 because of all of their
access to water.
It seems as though the retail stores that are so abundant in this county are importing their
merchandise from outside of the county.
Table 2. Selected Miami-Dade County Low Concentrated Industries
NAICS Sub-Sector Employment Average Wages LQ
NAICS 321 Wood product manufacturing 613 $30,191 0.25
NAICS 336 Transportation equipment manufacturing 2859 $53,858 0.24
Source: BLS, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
9. 9
Table 2. Selected Miami-Dade County Low Concentrated
Industries
NAICS 313 Textile mills 268 $43,977 0.24
NAICS 333 Machinery manufacturing 1941 $40,419 0.21
NAICS 115 Agriculture and forestry support activities 1401 $21,459 0.20
NAICS 316 Leather and allied product manufacturing 49 $45,412 0.16
NAICS 331 Primary metal manufacturing 447 $82,556 0.16
NAICS 112 Animal production and aquaculture 124 $46,631 0.07
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Miami-Dade County employment trends follow the national employment trends. Referring
to charts 1 and 2, total employment dipped during the national recession and has been on
the rise since. Earnings by place of residence have risen more quickly than earnings by place
of work (Chart 8). Both earnings by place of residence and earnings by place of work
suffered the most in 2009 after being on a steady increase since 2001. Between 2009 and
2012, earnings by place of residence grew more rapidly than earnings by place of workwith
a growth rate of 15 percent, compared to 11 percent. This means that people that livein the
county (whomay or may not work in the county) havehigher earnings growth than those
whowork in Miami-Dade County (whomay or may not live in the county).This could be
because of the geographic make-up of the county.Many jobs in coreindustries are located
near the southeast corner of the county,so commuting to other counties wouldbe too far.
Chart 8. Miami-Dade County Earnings by Place
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Total Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by NAICS
Industry
Table 3. Miami-Dade County Highest Paying Sectors
0
20,000,000
40,000,000
60,000,000
80,000,000
100,000,000
120,000,000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Earnings By Place of Work Earnings By Place of Residence
10. 10
NAICS Sub-Sector Employment Annual Wages
NAICS 523 Securities, commodity contracts, investments 7,927 $186,979
NAICS 551 Management of companies and enterprises 9,360 $117,922
NAICS 221 Utilities 2,333 $108,490
NAICS 711 Performing arts and spectator sports 5,305 $97,862
NAICS 515 Broadcasting, except internet 5,406 $90,304
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Chart 9. Miami-Dade County Labor Force and Employment
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics
Chart 9 shows the employment and labor forcerates as of December of each year between
2005 and 2015. The labor forcein Miami-Dade County has been growing at a relatively
constant rate, with growthan overall growthrate of about 13 percent from2005 to 2015.
While employment has an overall growthrate of 10.5 percent between 2005 and 2015, it
tooka sharp decline of about 12 percent from 2007 to 2009, around the time of the national
recession.
Table 4. Miami-Dade County Regional Shift-Share Analysis
NAICS Sub-Sector 2012 2015 NS IM RS
NAICS 111 Crop production 6,269 6,242 395 -97.39 -325
NAICS 112 Animal production and aquaculture 122 134 8 1.28 3
NAICS 115 Agriculture and forestry support activities 768 627 48 -40.99 -148
NAICS 212 Mining, except oil and gas 340 403 21 -53.22 95
NAICS 221 Utilities 2,826 2,373 178 -157.07 -474
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1200000
1400000
1600000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Labor Force Employment
11. 11
Table 4. Miami-Dade County Regional Shift-Share Analysis
NAICS 236 Construction of buildings 6,776 9,605 427 651.69 1750
NAICS 237 Heavy and civil engineering construction 4,691 5,096 296 132.09 -23
NAICS 238 Specialty trade contractors 18,579 24,326 1170 1675.11 2901
NAICS 311 Food mfg. 4,376 4,549 276 -129.62 27
NAICS 312 Beverage and tobacco product mfg. 775 858 49 78.7 -45
NAICS 313 Textile mills 303 216 19 -21.27 -85
NAICS 314 Textile product mills 602 622 38 -40.68 23
NAICS 315 Apparel mfg. 1,234 1,303 78 -185.47 177
NAICS 316 Leather and allied product mfg. 83 35 5 -7.77 -45
NAICS 321 Wood product mfg. 576 738 36 31.02 95
NAICS 322 Paper mfg. 1,029 1,162 65 -89.1 157
NAICS 323 Printing and related support activities 2,668 3,012 168 -234.32 410
NAICS 324 Petroleum and coal products mfg. 953 746 60 -63.51 -204
NAICS 325 Chemical mfg. 2,214 2,349 139 -82.93 78
NAICS 326 Plastics and rubber products mfg. 1,599 1,588 101 -2.95 -109
NAICS 327 Nonmetallic mineral product mfg. 2,279 2,594 144 31.39 140
NAICS 331 Primary metal mfg. 410 479 26 -36.46 80
NAICS 332 Fabricated metal product mfg. 3,886 4,884 245 -118.83 872
NAICS 333 Machinery mfg. 1,541 1,852 97 -75.43 289
NAICS 334 Computer and electronic product mfg. 2,748 2,841 173 -276.89 197
NAICS 335 Electrical equipment and appliance mfg. 949 968 60 -38.14 -3
NAICS 336 Transportation equipment mfg. 3,076 3,046 194 114.23 -338
NAICS 337 Furniture and related product mfg. 1,735 2,012 109 20.83 147
NAICS 339 Miscellaneous mfg. 2,729 3,030 172 -131.02 260
NAICS 423 Merchant wholesalers, durable 31,594 31,601 1990 -870.5
-
1113
NAICS 424 Merchant wholesalers, nondurable 25,757 27,234 1623 -644.66 499
NAICS 425 Electronic markets and agents and brokers 7,417 6,560 467 -176.69
-
1148
NAICS 441 Motor vehicle and parts dealers 13,578 15,345 855 634.75 277
NAICS 442 Furniture and home furnishings stores 4,414 4,932 278 3.54 236
NAICS 443 Electronics and appliance stores 7,296 7,728 460 -453.34 426
NAICS 444 Building material and garden supply stores 7,042 8,890 444 25.13 1379
NAICS 445 Food and beverage stores 24,669 28,783 1554 142.43 2417
NAICS 446 Health and personal care stores 12,347 13,466 778 -242.63 584
NAICS 447 Gasoline stations 2,965 3,406 187 21.02 233
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
12. 12
Table 4. Miami-Dade County Regional Shift-Share Analysis
NAICS 448 Clothing and clothing accessories stores 21,959 21,932 1383
-
1999.06
589
NAICS 451 Sporting goods, book and music stores 3,545 4,210 223 63.16 379
NAICS 452 General merchandise stores 23,026 26,163 1451 -666.56 2353
NAICS 453 Miscellaneous store retailers 7,496 7,344 472 -184.68 -440
NAICS 454 Nonstore retailers 2,763 2,811 174 241.49 -368
NAICS 481 Air transportation 13,704 15,894 863 -987.11 2314
NAICS 483 Water transportation 8,888 8,804 560 -349.84 -294
NAICS 484 Truck transportation 4,339 5,102 273 47.91 442
NAICS 485 Transit and ground passenger transport. 2,442 2,601 154 39.88 -35
NAICS 487 Scenic and sightseeing transportation 228 295 14 9.57 43
NAICS 488 Support activities for transportation 17,847 19,794 1124 1108.03 -285
NAICS 491 Postal service 4 14 0 0.7 9
NAICS 492 Couriers and messengers 6,628 7,161 418 332.34 -217
NAICS 493 Warehousing and storage 2,509 3,078 158 348.24 63
NAICS 511 Publishing industries, except internet 2,006 2,214 126 -159.26 241
NAICS 512 Motion picture industries 2,348 2,685 148 48.61 140
NAICS 515 Broadcasting, except internet 5,072 5,264 320 -449.8 322
NAICS 517 Telecommunications 5,951 5,836 375 -728.86 239
NAICS 518 Data processing and related services 896 884 56 98.48 -167
NAICS 519 Other information services 892 826 56 291.38 -414
NAICS 522 Credit intermediation and related
activities
21,303 22,288 1342
-
1450.29
1039
NAICS 523 Securities and investments 7,471 7,560 471 347.17 -729
NAICS 524 Insurance carriers and related activities 15,028 18,786 947 353.46 2458
NAICS 531 Real estate 17,623 19,095 1110 250.38 111
NAICS 532 Rental and leasing services 5,384 5,164 339 -1.25 -558
NAICS 533 Lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets 61 73 4 -4.47 13
NAICS 541 Professional and technical services 61,122 68,362 3851 1640.41 1749
NAICS 551 Management of companies and
enterprises
7,844 9,066 494 265.94 462
000 TOTAL 481,594 528,941 30339 -2201.7 19151
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
13. 13
Table 5. Miami-Dade County Core Industry Sectors
NAICS Sub-Sector 2015
Growth
from 2012 NS IM RS
NAICS 425 Electronic markets 6,560 857 467 -176.69 -1148
NAICS 221 Utilities 2,373 453 178 -157.07 -474
NAICS 532 Rental and leasing services 5,164 220 339 -1.25 -558
NAICS 324 Petroleum products mfg. 746 207 60 -63.51 -204
NAICS 453 Miscellaneous store retailers 7,344 152 472 -184.68 -440
NAICS 115 Agriculture and forestry support activities 627 141 48 -40.99 -148
NAICS 517 Telecommunications 5,836 115 375 -728.86 239
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
Table 6. Miami-Dade County Commuting Patterns
Residence Countyof Miami-Dade County Workers
2014
Count Share
Total Primary Jobs 991,987 100.0%
2014
Count Share
Miami-Dade County, FL 743,205 74.9%
Broward County, FL 147,522 14.9%
Palm Beach County, FL 28,430 2.9%
Orange County, FL 8,479 0.9%
Hillsborough County, FL 7,094 0.7%
Lee County, FL 6,065 0.6%
Monroe County, FL 5,685 0.6%
Collier County, FL 3,454 0.3%
St. Lucie County, FL 3,243 0.3%
Brevard County, FL 3,001 0.3%
All Other Locations 35,809 3.6%
Table 6 represents where workers in Miami-Dade County live. We see almost 75 percent of
people workingin the county also live in the county.Broward County, whichis just North of
Miami-Dade County, accountsfor about 15 percent
Strengthsand Weaknesses
When it comes to overallemployment, we see the trend in Miami-Dade County follow the
national trend. Employmentin this county is continuously growing with each year. This
gives Miami-Dade County the opportunity to grow their less prominent sectors and
capitalize those markets.
Based on the data, we can see that tourism and the county’s proximity to water drive most
major sectors in Miami-Dade County. We see extremely high locationquotients in both air
and water transportation, and the lowest locationquotient in animal production and
aquaculture. This could be an opportunity forthe county to develop this sector. With the
14. 14
amount of water surrounding the county and the everglades, there is an opportunity for this
to be a prominent industry in the county.
Health care and education are also large industries in Miami-Dade County. Unfortunately,
educational employment is a difficultindustry to keep growing withoutadding more
schools or increasing budgets.
Surprisingly, employment growthfrom 2012 to 2015 was the highest in the electronic
markets sector. With a growth rate of 13 percent in just three years, this could be an
opportunity forMiami-Dade County to grow this sector even further. With high location
quotients in sectors involvingtransportation, we see that this county is bringing in a lot of
jobs in the transportation market. Therefore, they should be focusedon heavily.
Most workers in Miami-Dade County live in the county with the second most workers
coming from Broward County. Fort Lauderdale, another large tourist destination, is located
in Broward County. Other than that, Miami-Dade County is not doing a very good job
bringing in workers fromcounties other than its own and Broward County. The county
being mostly surrounded by the ocean and the everglades could probably explain this.
Policy Recommendations
Although employment as a whole has been steadily increasing since the national recession,
it is alwaysimportant to focus on job production and growth.Agriculture and forestry
support activities is one of the faster growing industries in the county with a 22 and a half
percent increase in jobs from 2012 to 2015. Although there are less than a thousand jobs in
this industry, with the amount of access to land and agricultural opportunities in this
county,this has the potential to grow into a prominent industry. Going along withthis,
animal production and aquaculture has the lowestlocation quotient in the county. The
building up of agriculture and forestry could also influence the animal production and
aquaculture sector.
With the amount of tourism in the county,it is surprising that general merchandise stores
only has a locationquotient of 1.13. It is recommended to add more general merchandise
stores to the county because there is a large market for these types of stores. Electronics
and appliance stores have one of the largest locationquotients in the county,so this could
be another instance where one sector could benefit from the other.
Various manufacturing industries have very low locationquotients, meaning that they are
not major sectors in this county.Five out of the eight sub-sectors with the lowest LQ’s are
manufacturing industries. These jobs also only make up a small percentage of the labor
forcein Miami-Dade County. Perhaps funding forthese manufacturing industries should be
used elsewhere in sectors that have more of a potential to grow. One option would to be to
use the money used to fund manufacturing sectors and use it to grow more general
merchandise stores. More general merchandise stores attract customers, creating a
multiplier effectforthe community.
