Total nonfarm employment for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, metropolitan area increased by 66,500 over the year in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the local rate of job gain, 2.3 percent, compared to the 1.9-percent national increase. (See chart 1 and table 1.) (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendal, FL, with 45 percent of the metropolitan area’s total nonfarm employment, gained 38,400 jobs over the year. Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL, which accounted for 31 percent of the area’s employment, gained 18,200 jobs since March 2023. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, FL, accounted for 24 percent of area employment.

Industry employment

In Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, education and health services had the largest gain (+21,400) among the metropolitan area’s private-industry supersectors. (See chart 2.) The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendal, FL, division added 9,800 jobs, or 46 percent, of the metropolitan area’s employment gained in this industry. The 4.8-percent increase in the metropolitan area’s education and health services supersector compared to the 4.3-percent increase for the nation.

Leisure and hospitality added 13,800 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area, with the accommodation and food services sector accounting for 10,700 of the jobs added. The metropolitan area had a 4.0-percent gain in the leisure and hospitality supersector, compared to the 2.8-percent increase for the nation.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in March 2024. Five of twelve areas gained total nonfarm payroll employment over the year. The largest job gain occurred in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA (+118,700). Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ, had the smallest employment increase (+53,600) among the areas with significant changes. (See table 2 and chart 3.)

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, had a 2.3-percent rate of job gain, followed closely by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (+2.2 percent), and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX (+2.0 percent). Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, and New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, reported job gains of 1.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for April 2024 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the CES program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. More information about the CES data is available in the State Employment and Unemployment Summary and the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary.

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2022 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria. For some employment series, the estimates are produced with a model that uses direct sample estimates (described above) combined with other regressors to compensate for smaller sample sizes.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available in the CES State and Area benchmark article.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample surveys, administrative data, and modeling and, thus, are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability—that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data also are subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the specific estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal totals shown in the same tables due to rounding.

Employment estimates. Changes in metropolitan area nonfarm payroll employment are cited in the analysis of this release only if they have been determined to be statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level. Reliability of state and area estimates for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this news release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. The 12 metropolitan areas discussed in this release are the metropolitan areas with the largest population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties.

• The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL Metropolitan Division includes Broward County.

• The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division includes Miami-Dade County.

• The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, FL Metropolitan Division includes Palm Beach County.

Additional information

State and area employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.