Total nonfarm employment for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,517,400 in September 2020, down 189,700 over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the local rate of job loss, 7.0 percent, compared to the 6.4-percent national decline. This was the sixth consecutive month of over-the-year employment 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. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, the largest of the three divisions with 45 percent of the area’s employment, lost 76,600 jobs over the year. The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach Metropolitan Division, with 32 percent of the area’s employment, lost 65,900 jobs since last September, while the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Delray Beach Metropolitan Division lost 47,200 jobs over the 12-month period.

Industry employment

Employment in Miami’s leisure and hospitality supersector fell sharply (-77,600) for the 12 months ending in September, the largest loss of jobs among local major industry sectors. In percentage terms, the leisure and hospitality supersector declined 24.0 percent in Miami; nationwide, the rate of job loss was 21.7 percent. (See chart 2.)

The trade, transportation, and utilities sector in the Miami area lost 26,700 jobs, a 4.4-percent decline over the year. About half of the jobs lost in this sector were in the Miami metropolitan division (-13,200). Nationally, employment in trade, transportation, and utilities was down 3.6 percent over the year.

The professional and business services supersector in the local area lost 25,000 jobs, down 5.5 percent; nationwide, employment in professional and business services was down 5.8 percent. Miami’s education and health services industry lost 24,500 jobs over the year, down 6.0 percent; nationwide, employment in this supersector was down 4.7 percent.

Five other local area supersectors had job losses, ranging from 14,400 in government to 3,200 in information. Financial activities was the only local supersector to add jobs from September a year ago, up 1,300. Job gains in this supersector were concentrated in the Miami metropolitan division (+1,200).

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in September 2020. All 12 areas had over-the-year job losses during the period, with the rates of job losses in 7 areas exceeding the national decrease of 6.4 percent. New York-Newark-Jersey City had the fastest rate of job loss (-10.8 percent), followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (-10.6 percent). Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (-2.9 percent) had the slowest rate of job loss. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York lost the largest number of jobs over the year (-1,075,800), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (-598,900). The smallest employment loss occurred in Phoenix (-63,500). Annual losses in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 345,500 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to 106,300 in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell.

Over the year, leisure and hospitality lost the most jobs in all 12 metropolitan areas. New York had the largest loss of jobs for this sector (-369,400), followed by Los Angeles (-232,400). Phoenix had the smallest job losses for the leisure and hospitality sector (-42,100). The remaining nine areas had job losses ranging from 118,600 in Chicago to 43,100 in Atlanta for this industry sector.

Trade, transportation, and utilities added the most jobs in two areas: Phoenix (+10,700) and Atlanta (+2,800). Financial activities gained the most jobs in two other areas: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (+9,100) and Miami (+1,300).

Metropolitan area employment data for October 2020 are scheduled to be released on Friday, November 20, 2020.

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.

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 are also 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 special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.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/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/sae/publications/benchmark-article/annual-benchmark-article.pdf.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

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

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Detailed industry employment data for metropolitan areas from the CES program are available from the State and Area Employment databases at www.bls.gov/sae/data/.

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