Miami-Dade and Broward diverge as Spirit Airlines fallout lingers.
3.7%
Metro unemployment rate
vs 4.5% Florida, 4.1% national, August 2026
+9.8%
Miami-Dade finance wage growth
vs Broward finance wages down 3.2%
-1.0% YoY
Fort Lauderdale division employment
9,400 jobs lost, February 2026 data
4,850+
Florida WARN-affected workers tied to Spirit
3,260+ in Miami-Dade/Broward, May 2026
This Month's Takeaways
01
Miami-Dade and Broward are telling two different economic stories.
Miami-Dade's finance sector grew 4% in employment and 9.8% in wages while Broward's finance employment fell 1.7% with wages down 3.2%. A single metro-wide unemployment figure of 3.7% obscures this split and risks misinforming county-specific investment or planning decisions.
02
Spirit Airlines' collapse remains the metro's clearest named-employer shock.
Spirit's bankruptcy drove over 3,260 of Florida's 13,944 WARN-noticed job losses in Broward and Miami-Dade combined, concentrated in May. Affected-worker reabsorption into aviation, logistics, or adjacent sectors is a tangible local indicator worth tracking into Q4.
03
Minimum wage increase lands against a cooling statewide hiring backdrop.
Florida's rise to $15.00/hour on September 30 reaches workers in a state where job openings-to-seeker ratios have tightened to roughly 93 seekers per 100 openings. Locally, stable advertised pay for retail and food-service roles suggests the increase is landing in a market with limited pre-existing wage pressure to absorb it.
04
Local wage-vs-inflation picture still looks healthier than the national one.
National average hourly earnings growth slowed to 3.0% against 3.4% inflation, eroding real purchasing power broadly, while Miami-Dade's 5.1% average salary growth and $1,797 average weekly wage (above the $1,654 national average) suggest local purchasing power is holding up better than the national trend implies.
Local Economic Conditions
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach held 3.7% unemployment in August, the lowest of any major Florida metro and well under the state's 4.5% and national 4.1% rates, even as nonagricultural employment in the Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Sunrise metro division fell 1.0% year-over-year amid Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy fallout and finance-sector softness in Broward. Wage momentum stayed strongest in Miami-Dade, where compensation costs rose roughly 5-6% year-over-year and finance/insurance wages jumped 9.8%, a divergence that is reshaping which part of the metro is absorbing the state's September 30 minimum-wage increase to $15.00/hour.
Open Threads in the Data
County-level divergence matters more than the metro headline this month: Miami-Dade's low unemployment and double-digit finance wage growth point to a business climate still absorbing investment, while Broward's job losses and wage softness in finance suggest more caution is warranted there before committing to expansion. Commerce leaders evaluating site-selection or expansion decisions should weigh county-specific momentum rather than the blended metro figure, and government economists tracking public-sector stability should note the Fort Lauderdale division's broader payroll contraction against Miami-Dade's resilience. Consider disaggregating any metro-wide economic read by county before using it to inform investment or planning conversations with members or constituents.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$33,918 |
→ Stable |
27,195 |
| Retail Cashier |
$31,337 |
→ Stable |
10,466 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$35,360 |
→ Stable |
6,975 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$82,500 |
↑ Moderate increase |
9,993 |
| Delivery Driver |
$32,848 |
↓ Moderate decline |
13,425 |
| Warehouse Manager |
$63,996 |
↓ Significant decline |
15 |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$37,440 |
→ Stable |
787 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$63,798 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,371 |
| HVAC Technician |
$65,021 |
↑ Significant increase |
1,149 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$35,360 |
→ Stable |
1,377 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$40,450 |
↑ Moderate increase |
8,192 |
| Operations Manager |
$77,435 |
↑ Significant increase |
55 |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$33,280 |
→ Stable |
1,149 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$35,360 |
→ Stable |
16,834 |
| Registered Nurse |
$94,302 |
↑ Moderate increase |
23,378 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$42,000 |
→ Stable |
10,405 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$149,168 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,319 |
| Data Engineer |
$132,220 |
→ Stable |
1,625 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$73,083 |
→ Stable |
6,886 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$65,487 |
→ Stable |
1,330 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$62,461 |
↑ Moderate increase |
841 |
| Business Analyst |
$92,312 |
→ Stable |
1,893 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$85,280 |
↑ Moderate increase |
2,112 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$51,612 |
↑ Moderate increase |
22,047 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$85,124 |
↑ Moderate increase |
6,254 |
Industry Snapshot · Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↑ +5.4% |
↑ +6.0% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +16.6% |
↑ +36.7% |
| Retail Trade |
→ +2.1% |
↓ −3.1% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↑ +26.9% |
↓ −4.6% |
| Information |
↑ +12.7% |
↑ +12.3% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +6.6% |
↑ +21.6% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↑ +7.1% |
↑ +26.3% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +9.3% |
↑ +17.2% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
→ −0.2% |
↓ −7.6% |
| Government |
↑ +28.8% |
↑ +9.9% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Potential inflection point
Watch whether Broward's finance and nonagricultural employment declines persist into Q4 data releases or prove a one-quarter dip tied to Spirit Airlines' wind-down. A continued slide would mark a genuine divergence from Miami-Dade's trajectory, not just noise.
Expected
Florida's minimum wage move to $15.00/hour on September 30 will show up in October-November advertised pay data for retail, food service, and hospitality roles across the metro. The relevant question is whether Miami-Dade employers raise pay further above the floor to preserve wage differentials.
Worth watching
National WARN activity names Amazon, Meta, Verizon, Oracle, and Tyson among 2026's largest filers; none has yet surfaced prominently in South Florida notices. Any expansion of that national layoff list into logistics, retail distribution, or tech-adjacent roles locally would be a meaningful shift from the metro's current resilience.
Early indicator
Education and health services keeps adding jobs locally and statewide (1,900 in Fort Lauderdale-Pompano division, 39,000 statewide), the most dependable growth engine in an otherwise uneven metro. Continued strength there would support the case that public-sector and institutional stability is cushioning softer private-sector segments.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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