News

Miami-Dade County’s employment numbers show annual job growth rates in February of 15 percent in construction and 4.5 percent in financial activities, exceeding the state’s annual rate, according to statistics released recently by the Beacon Council, a private-public organization in charge of attracting businesses to Miami-Dade County.

The Beacon Council President & CEO Larry K. Williams highlighted the fact that construction and financial activities are key drivers in our local economy. “Construction jobs provide entry level positions that can lead to greater opportunities,” he said. Our financial sector continues its robust growth due to the demand for wealth management from Latin America and strong interest in hedge funds based on comments from companies we work with.”

With a growing employment force, it is not a surprise Miami is experiencing the highest amount of occupied office space on record and all-time highs in professional and business services as well as financial services staffing. That’s where investors can expect rental growth.

Miami-Dade continues to show year over year gains with 19,200 new nonagricultural payroll jobs (not taking seasonal fluctuations in the labor force into consideration). That shows a 1.7 percent increase from February 2015 to February 2016, according to the Beacon Council.

In February 2016, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Miami-Dade County was 5.8 percent, which is 0.2 percentage points lower than January 2016.

The chart below can be a good indicator of where the demand for office space may be in coming months. This information can help investors decide on type of property to acquire, submarkets and asset repositioning opportunities.