Almost 28,000 jobs have been recovered since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Miami, Palm Beach County and Fort Lauderdale.  Majority of these jobs fall into the government, hospitality and retail sectors.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data showing the Miami market has gained  over 16,000 jobs in August, Palm Beach has gained about 7,000 and Fort Lauderdale has gained over 5,000.  The largest growth in the job market over the last few months is coming from the government sector.  The majority of these jobs are temporary positions tied to the 2020 Census, but has helped the unemployment rate fall to single digits for the first time since COVID-19 hit.  

Hospitality and retail are industries that have suffered considerably from the COVID-19 pandemic across the Country.  Miami has lost about 70,000 jobs in hospitality and about 22,000 jobs in retail since March and April.  As stores and restaurants continue to open up operating at limited capacity, both industries combined have recovered an average of 55% of the jobs lost.  This has significantly boosted Miami’s total COVID-19 job recovery rate to about 45%. 

Palm Beach County’s hospitality and retail industries are slowly making a comeback but not at the same rapid pace as Miami.   At the beginning of the pandemic hospitality in Palm Beach County lost about 48,000 jobs and retail lost almost 10,000.  Since April, hospitality has recovered about 30% of jobs lost and retail has recovered about 45%.  Palm Beach County has regained about 35% of the 100,000 total jobs lost from the pandemic. 

Fort Lauderdale’s hospitality industry lost over 3,000 jobs and retail lost about 14,000 since March and April.  Hospitality has recovered about 44% of the jobs lost and retail has recovered about 60%.  Fort Lauderdale has a total recovery rate of about 36% of the 130,000 jobs lost from the pandemic.  Overall even though job loss from COVID-19 remains down, it is hopeful to see industries slowly coming back as customers begin to leave their houses and support local communities.