Study reveals information about salary income in Miami
A recent study in the State of Florida revealed that unemployment in Miami-Dade has never been so low. Unfortunately, the same can be said about income. The research shows as well that the average income of households in Miami-Dade has decreased in the last five decades: to 45,900 dollars in 2016, from 49,800 dollars in 1970.
This is indicated by Alan Berube, principal investigator and deputy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution. Berube is today the main speaker at the Annual Metro Forum with his presentation on the State of the Economy in South Florida, which takes place at the Metropolitan Center of FIU.
Berube compares the recent trajectory of Miami-Dade with that of San Diego, in California. During the first half of the post-World War II era, both cities had similar sizes, demographic characteristics and single-source economies (tourism in the case of Miami, military in San Diego).
While Miami-Dade wages have shown a slight increase since the minimum reached in 2010 after the recession, they have not yet returned to the peak of the 1990s, much less to their level of decades ago. Meanwhile, San Diego's revenues have increased significantly since 1970.
The data comes at a time when studies show that there are now more trained Miamians working on their own, which means their income may be more precarious. In turn, teachers can barely afford a house now.
What explains the divergent destinations of the two cities? According to Berube, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States reduced defense spending after the collapse of the Soviet Union. That forced San Diego to diversify its economy. There was an intense drive to invest in research, science and education, especially through the University of California-San Diego.
Miami never had the same impact on its tourism industry. And while it has been impacted by immigration booms, the region's strategic leadership may have taken it on a path to broader prosperity much earlier. Today, San Diego is known as a science center, something that nobody predicted 30 years ago.
"Rather, they have had sufficient investment in assets that drive technology-based growth, and they have prepared their entire population for the opportunities offered by the economy", Berube said.
The investigator believes that Miami's economy is now on the right track, but that it will take patience to see that the investments that are being made are paying off. "The question for Miami and other big cities is, what is the technological field that could be a good source of job creation as a result of the economy's tendency towards digitalization?” he said.
