MIAMI – The March unemployment rate (not-seasonally adjusted) for the South Florida Workforce region (Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties) was 11.8 percent. The March 2010 rate was up 2.2 percentage points from the year-ago rate of 9.6 percent but was 0.2 percentage points lower than the state rate of 12.0 percent. During March 2010, there were 155,174 unemployed residents in the region out of a labor force of 1,312,441.
In the two counties constituting the South Florida Workforce region, the March 2010 unemployment rates were 12.0 percent in Miami-Dade County and 7.7 percent in Monroe County. Monroe’s unemployment rate is the second lowest statewide and has decreased by 0.4 percentage points from its revised 8.1 February 2010 rate. For Miami-Dade County, the 12.0 percent March 2010 unemployment rate represents a 0.7 percentage points over the month increase of the revised 11.3 February 2010 rate. Moreover, Miami-Dade’s March 2010 rate is 2.3 percentages points higher than its 9.7 year-ago rate.
As in Miami-Dade County, the March 2010 unemployment rate for the metropolitan statistical area of Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall is 12.0 percent. For that month, total nonagricultural employment in the statistical area was 978,800, a decline of 2.1 percent over the year. Of the South Florida Workforce region’s major industries, education and health services (+4,100 jobs) were the only major industry sectors to gain jobs over the year. The majority of the gains in health services were in ambulatory health care.
In the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan area, mining, logging, and construction (-6,000 jobs) lost the most jobs, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities (-5,800); financial activities (-4,000 jobs); manufacturing (-3,500 jobs); information (-2,200 jobs); leisure and hospitality (-1,500 jobs); other services (-1,000 jobs); and government and professional and business services (both -800 jobs).
