As it emerges from the Great Recession, the metropolitan area of Miami It ranks among the top 25 of 100 metropolitan areas in terms of economic growth, but at the same time falls in the bottom third of them when it comes to prosperity, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution.

The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program has released its 2017 Metro Monitor report, a current update of the economic measurement tool that gives the program its name. The report measures and ranks the performance of the nation’s top 100 metropolitan economies in three critical areas of economic development: growth, prosperity and inclusion. The 2017 report focuses on the period from 2010 to 2015, during which the nation accelerated its recovery from the Great Recession, although data from 2005 to 2015 are also included.

For the period from 2010 to 2015, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area showed improvements in all three areas, ranking 21st for growth, 23rd for inclusion and 71st for prosperity.

“Miami saw a substantial recovery from the Great Recession. It was driven by a recovery in jobs, particularly jobs at new firms. Entrepreneurship seems to be driving much of the recovery,” said Richard Shearer, one of the report’s authors, who noted that the Miami area ranked 15th for job growth at new firms. “What hasn’t improved as much is prosperity. Miami’s productivity declined by 3.5 percent.

In the case of Miami, the decline appears to have been caused by a significant drop in government revenues and government expenditures. Metropolitan Gross Product (GMP) and jobs declined in governments at the federal, state and local levels, and that has resulted in a significant stunting of GMP growth in Miami. Utilities also showed a decline.”

One good sign that growth is continuing, Shearer said, is that new business firms are growing slightly faster than jobs overall, 14.7 percent higher compared to 14.3 percent. ” Miami may have to continue to invest in strategies that grow its advanced business and professional services sectors, which are really productive and seem to be driving growth in other metro areas during this recovery period and will likely continue to move forward.”

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Looking at the 10-year period from 2005 to 2015, the region has also seen a recovery in jobs, meaning it has recovered from the recession, but its GMP growth is weaker likely due to declining government spending or revenue, Shearer said. The data also show that productivity and living standards are lower in 2015 than they were in 2005, which could be because real estate and construction have not recovered to where they were then, he said. New firms’ job growth fell by 9.1 percent over the longest period of time, meaning it hasn’t recovered to pre-recession levels.

Nationally, according to Shearer, the 2017 Metro Monitor Inclusive Growth Index concluded that:

▪ Despite the recovery of jobs from the Great Recession, many places are struggling to extend the benefits of the recovery to everyone in a metropolitan area. “Most areas continue to face gaps between accelerated growth and low levels of prosperity and inclusion. For many, a full recovery from the Great Recession remains out of reach,” the report said.

What is it about Miami that has become so irresistible to foreign investors?

Due to its strategic location between Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States, for being the third most important financial center nationwide, and the favorite place of thousands of tourists, South Florida is considered the number one market in real estate in the United States.

▪ The recovery in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina has been driven by the same sectors that drove the boom in them: retail, the hospitality industries (hotels and restaurants) and construction.

▪ Metropolitan areas with strong sectors of advanced industries such as technology and research made notable gains in productivity compared to metropolitan areas whose economy depends on the service sector, such as Miami.

 Source: https://www.elnuevoherald.com/