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News Release Information

21-709-ATL
Thursday, April 29, 2021

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Miami Area Employment — March 2021

Total nonfarm employment for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,571,300 in March 2021, down 160,100 or 5.9 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count declined 4.4 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that this was the 12th consecutive month of over-the-year declines in the Miami area. (The Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)


The Miami area is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. All three divisions had employment declines over the year. The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metropolitan Division, with 44 percent of the area’s total nonfarm employment, lost 82,500 jobs over the year. The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 32 percent of the area’s employment, lost 46,800 jobs since March 2020, and the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach Metropolitan Division, with 24 percent of the area’s employment, lost 30,800 jobs.

Industry employment

In the greater Miami area, leisure and hospitality had the largest loss (-60,300). (See chart 2.) The accommodation and food services sector accounted for 49,600 of the jobs lost. The 18.0-percent decline in Miami’s leisure and hospitality supersector compared to the 14.4-percent loss on a national level.


Trade, transportation, and utilities lost 31,300 jobs over the year in the local area, a 5.1-percent decline. The retail (-17,700) and wholesale (-6,900) trade sectors accounted for 79 percent of the jobs lost in the industry supersector. Nationally, employment for the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector declined 1.9 percent over the year.

Three other supersectors had significant over-the-year job losses: education and health services (-19,700), other services (-10,400), and information (-4,000).

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Miami was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in March 2021. All 12 areas lost jobs over the year. New York-Newark-Jersey City had the largest decline (-932,900). Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale had the smallest loss (-53,300) among the largest areas. (See table 2 and chart 3.)

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim had a 9.6-percent rate of job loss, followed by losses of 9.5 percent in both New York and San Francisco-Hayward-Oakland. The rates of job losses in the remaining nine areas ranged from 7.7 percent in Boston-Cambridge-Nashua to 2.4 percent in Phoenix.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for April 2021 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on March 2021 Establishment Survey Data

BLS has continued to review all estimation and methodological procedures for the establishment survey, which included the review of data, estimation processes, the application of the birth-death model, and seasonal adjustment. Business births and deaths cannot be adequately captured by the establishment survey as they occur. Therefore, the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program uses a model to account for the relatively stable net employment change generated by business births and deaths. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the relationship between business births and deaths is no longer stable. Typically, reports with zero employment are not included in estimation. For the February final and March preliminary estimates, CES included a portion of these reports in the estimates and made modifications to the birth-death model. In addition for both months, the establishment survey included a portion of the reports that returned to reporting positive employment from reporting zero employment. For more information, see www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbd.htm.

In the establishment survey, workers who are paid by their employer for all or any part of the pay period including the 12th of the month are counted as employed, even if they were not actually at their jobs. Workers who are temporarily or permanently absent from their jobs and are not being paid are not counted as employed, even if they are continuing to receive benefits. The length of the reference period does vary across the respondents in the establishment survey; one-third of businesses have a weekly pay period, slightly over 40 percent a bi-weekly, about 20 percent semi-monthly, and a small amount monthly.


Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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 2017 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 sample of establishments is very small or highly variable. In these cases, a model-based approach is used in estimation. These models use the direct sample estimates (described above), combined with forecasts of historical (benchmarked) data to decrease volatility in estimation. Two different models (Fay-Herriot Model and Small Domain Model) are used depending on the industry level being estimated. For more detailed information about each model, refer to the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/ces-20110307.pdf.

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.

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 the totals shown in the same tables because of 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. Measures of sampling error for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Measures of sampling error for more detailed series at the area and division level are available upon request. Measures of sampling error for states at the supersector level and for the private service-providing, goods-producing, total private and total nonfarm levels are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/bmrk_article.htm.

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 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area includes the counties of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach in Florida.

  • The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL Metropolitan Division includes Broward County in Florida.
  • The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division includes Miami-Dade County in Florida
  • The West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, FL Metropolitan Division includes Palm Beach County in Florida.

Additional information

Employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, United States and the Miami metropolitan area and its components, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)
Area and IndustryMar
2020
Jan
2021
Feb
2021
Mar
2021(p)
Mar 2020 to Mar 2021(p)
Net changePercent change

United States

Total nonfarm

149,952140,980142,077143,400-6,552-4.4

Mining and logging

669593584608-61-9.1

Construction

7,2977,0677,0067,217-80-1.1

Manufacturing

12,67212,14212,18812,254-418-3.3

Trade, transportation, and utilities

27,42326,95726,80526,907-516-1.9

Information

2,8882,6482,6702,669-219-7.6

Financial activities

8,8058,7338,7348,748-57-0.6

Professional and business services

21,05020,29120,44220,535-515-2.4

Education and health services

24,47123,10523,39323,515-956-3.9

Leisure and hospitality

15,74512,57613,03713,473-2,272-14.4

Other services

5,8055,4155,4535,506-299-5.2

Government

23,12721,45321,76521,968-1,159-5.0

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area

Total nonfarm

2,731.42,542.42,560.62,571.3-160.1-5.9

Mining and logging

0.80.80.80.80.00.0

Construction

141.9137.4138.1139.4-2.5-1.8

Manufacturing

91.186.287.887.9-3.2-3.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities

611.8580.0576.6580.5-31.3-5.1

Information

50.646.046.546.6-4.0-7.9

Financial activities

191.4187.2187.5188.4-3.0-1.6

Professional and business services

450.1438.5443.4442.7-7.4-1.6

Education and health services

418.7395.2399.2399.0-19.7-4.7

Leisure and hospitality

334.7263.4269.6274.4-60.3-18.0

Other services

118.3106.0107.1107.9-10.4-8.8

Government

322.0301.7304.0303.7-18.3-5.7

Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division

Total nonfarm

1,220.41,119.41,130.11,137.9-82.5-6.8

Mining and logging

0.50.50.50.50.00.0

Construction

54.251.651.852.1-2.1-3.9

Manufacturing

42.139.340.840.8-1.3-3.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

301.0280.6278.6281.6-19.4-6.4

Information

20.218.218.418.5-1.7-8.4

Financial activities

82.380.280.681.4-0.9-1.1

Professional and business services

182.6176.7180.7182.5-0.1-0.1

Education and health services

196.2185.7187.0185.8-10.4-5.3

Leisure and hospitality

144.4104.5107.3109.5-34.9-24.2

Other services

50.044.545.045.6-4.4-8.8

Government

146.9137.6139.4139.6-7.3-5.0

Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, FL Metropolitan Division

Total nonfarm

862.5809.0813.6815.7-46.8-5.4

Construction

50.048.449.249.9-0.1-0.2

Manufacturing

29.027.327.027.0-2.0-6.9

Trade, transportation, and utilities

193.9186.6185.1186.4-7.5-3.9

Information

19.618.418.618.6-1.0-5.1

Financial activities

65.163.063.163.3-1.8-2.8

Professional and business services

151.1143.4145.2143.4-7.7-5.1

Education and health services

114.4107.4109.0109.0-5.4-4.7

Leisure and hospitality

96.279.781.183.4-12.8-13.3

Other services

35.531.331.631.6-3.9-11.0

Government

107.6103.4103.6103.0-4.6-4.3

West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach, FL Metropolitan Division

Total nonfarm

648.5614.0616.9617.7-30.8-4.7

Construction

37.737.437.137.4-0.3-0.8

Manufacturing

20.019.620.020.10.10.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities

116.9112.8112.9112.5-4.4-3.8

Information

10.89.49.59.5-1.3-12.0

Financial activities

44.044.043.843.7-0.3-0.7

Professional and business services

116.4118.4117.5116.80.40.3

Education and health services

108.1102.1103.2104.2-3.9-3.6

Leisure and hospitality

94.179.281.281.5-12.6-13.4

Other services

32.830.230.530.7-2.1-6.4

Government

67.560.761.061.1-6.4-9.5

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary


Table 2. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, 12 largest metropolitan areas, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)
Area and IndustryMar
2020
Jan
2021
Feb
2021
Mar
2021(p)
Mar 2020 to Mar 2021(p)
Net changePercent change

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

Total nonfarm

2,853.72,697.62,713.32,728.1-125.6-4.4

Mining and logging

1.71.71.71.70.00.0

Construction

131.1126.3128.3130.7-0.4-0.3

Manufacturing

171.1162.9163.7163.7-7.4-4.3

Trade, transportation, and utilities

600.7588.4589.3589.1-11.6-1.9

Information

104.697.998.9100.1-4.5-4.3

Financial activities

180.7178.8178.9179.8-0.9-0.5

Professional and business services

549.9530.3531.4534.0-15.9-2.9

Education and health services

375.6354.2360.2362.0-13.6-3.6

Leisure and hospitality

292.6236.7241.9246.5-46.1-15.8

Other services

105.491.891.291.5-13.9-13.2

Government

340.3328.6327.8329.0-11.3-3.3

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH

Total nonfarm

2,786.62,532.12,556.42,571.5-215.1-7.7

Mining, logging, and construction

117.1114.1111.8112.9-4.2-3.6

Manufacturing

185.8175.2176.4177.9-7.9-4.3

Trade, transportation, and utilities

417.7399.7395.3395.3-22.4-5.4

Information

83.879.078.479.0-4.8-5.7

Financial activities

184.0181.1181.3181.5-2.5-1.4

Professional and business services

514.1496.0502.2502.4-11.7-2.3

Education and health services

605.1543.7554.9558.6-46.5-7.7

Leisure and hospitality

254.8165.4173.7178.6-76.2-29.9

Other services

101.583.983.383.6-17.9-17.6

Government

322.7294.0299.1301.7-21.0-6.5

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

Total nonfarm

4,674.94,287.44,312.84,343.7-331.2-7.1

Mining and logging

1.81.41.41.5-0.3-16.7

Construction

163.4148.5145.6156.2-7.2-4.4

Manufacturing

415.0389.6393.9392.8-22.2-5.3

Trade, transportation, and utilities

934.9917.3907.2905.9-29.0-3.1

Information

77.971.071.170.4-7.5-9.6

Financial activities

318.4313.7314.4313.4-5.0-1.6

Professional and business services

808.5772.5771.3769.4-39.1-4.8

Education and health services

744.1692.2700.7703.5-40.6-5.5

Leisure and hospitality

460.8297.0315.7332.9-127.9-27.8

Other services

193.7175.2174.6176.9-16.8-8.7

Government

556.4509.0516.9520.8-35.6-6.4

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

Total nonfarm

3,819.23,701.83,694.63,723.2-96.0-2.5

Mining, logging, and construction

225.7216.4214.6218.4-7.3-3.2

Manufacturing

290.1280.8279.4281.6-8.5-2.9

Trade, transportation, and utilities

799.4810.5807.6809.29.81.2

Information

82.279.179.279.2-3.0-3.6

Financial activities

325.8326.4327.0328.52.70.8

Professional and business services

649.7645.2636.0643.1-6.6-1.0

Education and health services

468.8449.6449.7452.5-16.3-3.5

Leisure and hospitality

389.2330.8332.9342.5-46.7-12.0

Other services

126.2114.0113.8115.7-10.5-8.3

Government

462.1449.0454.4452.5-9.6-2.1

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

Total nonfarm

3,174.22,952.32,965.02,999.2-175.0-5.5

Mining and logging

77.567.068.168.6-8.9-11.5

Construction

237.1198.3199.6206.1-31.0-13.1

Manufacturing

233.6205.6208.0207.5-26.1-11.2

Trade, transportation, and utilities

625.7620.0621.5624.7-1.0-0.2

Information

32.128.728.728.6-3.5-10.9

Financial activities

168.3162.8162.1162.6-5.7-3.4

Professional and business services

511.1479.7477.3486.7-24.4-4.8

Education and health services

411.6393.6395.1397.5-14.1-3.4

Leisure and hospitality

330.0282.9283.2295.2-34.8-10.5

Other services

117.2104.9103.2105.7-11.5-9.8

Government

430.0408.8418.2416.0-14.0-3.3

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

Total nonfarm

6,221.25,492.75,574.55,626.5-594.7-9.6

Mining and logging

2.31.91.91.9-0.4-17.4

Construction

252.7247.8247.9247.4-5.3-2.1

Manufacturing

494.1445.0448.0449.1-45.0-9.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

1,088.71,045.51,042.01,048.3-40.4-3.7

Information

259.0197.1200.8204.2-54.8-21.2

Financial activities

339.8323.3322.8322.8-17.0-5.0

Professional and business services

955.6883.8895.1903.7-51.9-5.4

Education and health services

1,097.81,039.71,051.21,053.8-44.0-4.0

Leisure and hospitality

749.2458.4508.7531.8-217.4-29.0

Other services

210.9153.1157.9162.2-48.7-23.1

Government

771.1697.1698.2701.3-69.8-9.1

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

Total nonfarm

2,731.42,542.42,560.62,571.3-160.1-5.9

Mining and logging

0.80.80.80.80.00.0

Construction

141.9137.4138.1139.4-2.5-1.8

Manufacturing

91.186.287.887.9-3.2-3.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities

611.8580.0576.6580.5-31.3-5.1

Information

50.646.046.546.6-4.0-7.9

Financial activities

191.4187.2187.5188.4-3.0-1.6

Professional and business services

450.1438.5443.4442.7-7.4-1.6

Education and health services

418.7395.2399.2399.0-19.7-4.7

Leisure and hospitality

334.7263.4269.6274.4-60.3-18.0

Other services

118.3106.0107.1107.9-10.4-8.8

Government

322.0301.7304.0303.7-18.3-5.7

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

Total nonfarm

9,855.88,767.68,828.78,922.9-932.9-9.5

Mining, logging, and construction

402.3359.7343.8355.4-46.9-11.7

Manufacturing

352.7325.9327.5330.8-21.9-6.2

Trade, transportation, and utilities

1,699.31,553.11,532.81,536.3-163.0-9.6

Information

315.3281.7287.0291.4-23.9-7.6

Financial activities

786.4756.7755.7755.0-31.4-4.0

Professional and business services

1,567.31,434.81,451.71,465.8-101.5-6.5

Education and health services

2,110.01,917.61,957.11,977.2-132.8-6.3

Leisure and hospitality

865.6525.4546.7571.4-294.2-34.0

Other services

410.8341.0342.0344.3-66.5-16.2

Government

1,346.11,271.71,284.41,295.3-50.8-3.8

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Total nonfarm

2,965.32,732.22,757.82,779.1-186.2-6.3

Mining, logging, and construction

117.8110.3111.0111.7-6.1-5.2

Manufacturing

182.2172.1172.6172.6-9.6-5.3

Trade, transportation, and utilities

522.0506.3503.2506.1-15.9-3.0

Information

53.349.149.549.7-3.6-6.8

Financial activities

218.0214.4214.3213.7-4.3-2.0

Professional and business services

467.4449.0452.0456.2-11.2-2.4

Education and health services

679.1626.5639.0642.3-36.8-5.4

Leisure and hospitality

259.3177.4184.6191.8-67.5-26.0

Other services

120.5103.1103.0104.1-16.4-13.6

Government

345.7324.0328.6330.9-14.8-4.3

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

Total nonfarm

2,218.02,140.52,155.02,164.7-53.3-2.4

Mining and logging

3.32.82.82.8-0.5-15.2

Construction

136.5132.0130.4133.1-3.4-2.5

Manufacturing

136.0133.4134.4135.4-0.6-0.4

Trade, transportation, and utilities

415.7424.0428.0429.613.93.3

Information

40.737.538.037.1-3.6-8.8

Financial activities

205.5203.3203.6202.7-2.8-1.4

Professional and business services

369.2361.4362.2362.1-7.1-1.9

Education and health services

350.9344.5346.2347.7-3.2-0.9

Leisure and hospitality

237.9195.1199.7203.8-34.1-14.3

Other services

69.865.967.067.5-2.3-3.3

Government

252.5240.6242.7242.9-9.6-3.8

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

Total nonfarm

2,477.42,202.52,227.52,242.5-234.9-9.5

Mining and logging

0.40.30.30.3-0.1-25.0

Construction

127.6122.1122.2122.2-5.4-4.2

Manufacturing

145.7140.6141.9141.6-4.1-2.8

Trade, transportation, and utilities

366.3336.9335.0335.1-31.2-8.5

Information

134.4134.6134.0134.60.20.1

Financial activities

145.4138.1137.3136.6-8.8-6.1

Professional and business services

501.4477.2482.4485.9-15.5-3.1

Education and health services

373.3347.2353.9356.1-17.2-4.6

Leisure and hospitality

271.1141.5153.5159.8-111.3-41.1

Other services

87.065.266.467.8-19.2-22.1

Government

324.8298.8300.6302.5-22.3-6.9

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Total nonfarm

3,336.03,115.93,125.03,147.8-188.2-5.6

Mining, logging, and construction

163.3158.7156.4159.8-3.5-2.1

Manufacturing

55.954.155.055.3-0.6-1.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

402.0391.4386.0385.0-17.0-4.2

Information

77.173.172.772.4-4.7-6.1

Financial activities

159.4152.5152.4151.9-7.5-4.7

Professional and business services

782.5759.9764.1769.5-13.0-1.7

Education and health services

454.9421.6427.2427.9-27.0-5.9

Leisure and hospitality

317.6220.6221.8230.3-87.3-27.5

Other services

207.6187.9187.8188.6-19.0-9.2

Government

715.7696.1701.6707.1-8.6-1.2

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, April 29, 2021