Miami area wage gains below national average

Compensation costs for private industry workers in the Miami region rose 4.3% in the first quarter of this year from the first quarter of 2021, far above the 3.4% 12-month gain registered in the first quarter 2021, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week.
Wages and salaries alone rose 4.6% over the 12-month period in the Miami region.

At the time the Miami region was measured at the end of March in a very tight employment market, Miami-Dade County alone saw its unemployment percentage creep up to 3% from 2.8% in February.

While the total compensation and wage figures in this region rose more than they had a year ago, the increases were below those 12-month gains recorded in the last quarter of 2021 and were below the national average annual increase in large metropolitan areas of 4.8% in compensation costs and 5% annually in wages and salaries.

The federal figures for the region encompass seven counties in South Florida: Miami-Dade, Broward, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St,. Lucie. The is one of the 15 metropolitan areas in the nation that the federal survey measures in the Employment Cost Index, which includes wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits.

Total compensation costs have been rising in the Miami region, as they have throughout most of the nation. In the last two quarters of 2020, the 12-month rise was 1.5% each quarter, followed by 3.4% in March, 2.4% in June 2021, 4.1% in September and 5.2% in December, before declining to 4.3% in the first quarter of this year as the national average was rising in the first quarter to 4.8%.

Nationally, the bureau points out, the yearly rise in compensation costs ranged from a 7.8% high in Seattle to a 3.3% low in Atlanta. For wages and salaries, Phoenix registered the largest percentage increase, 6.4%, while Atlanta’s was the smallest, 3.4%.