MIAMI – The unemployment rate in the South Florida Workforce Region (Miami-Dade and Monroe counties) was 6.8 percent in January 2009, up 2.1 percentage points from a year ago (4.7 percent).
Unemployment rates in the two counties that comprise the South Florida Workforce Region were 6.8 percent in Miami-Dade County and 5.9 percent in Monroe County. The unemployment rate in Miami-Dade County was up 2.1 percentage points over the year and Monroe County was up 2.9 percentage points.
The Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metro division ranked first among all metro areas in Florida in the number of new jobs in the education and health services industry, ahead of the Orlando-Kissimmee metro area (+3,300 jobs).
“The lagging economy is a critical issue, the key to the economic recovery is the implementation economic and employment strategies to address the critical issue,” said Rick Beasley, Executive Director of the South Florida Workforce Investment Board. “We are extending our operating hours for our Career Centers and we are implementing a number of initiatives that are intended to shore up the business community and assist our residents in obtaining employment.”
Not surprisingly, the education and health services industry was the only industry that gained jobs over the year in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metro division (+3,500 jobs). Conversely, total nonagricultural employment decreased by 29,400 jobs over the year in the metropolitan division. Trade, transportation, and utilities lost the most jobs (-9,200 jobs), followed by mining, logging, and construction (-8,900 jobs); professional and business services (-5,600 jobs); manufacturing (-3,100 jobs); government (-1,900 jobs); financial activities (-1,700 jobs); information (-1,400 jobs); leisure and hospitality (-900 jobs); and other services (-200 jobs).
