"My top priority is job creation. My plan is to attract new investment and create high-paying, quality jobs.
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Sources: Subjects: County government, Economy, Jobs
Updates: Early signs of some job growth
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Carlos-O-Meter: IN THE WORKS
When Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez ran for re-election in 2012, he promised on his campaign website to "attract new investment and create high-paying quality jobs.Ó
Gimenez didn't attach any specific numbers to that promise -- unlike Gov. Rick Scott who promised to create over 700,000 jobs which we have rated Stalled.
Though Gimenez's promise was vague, job creation is an important task for a mayor and we decided to track his progress on our Carlos-O-Meter.
Gimenez's spokeswoman Suzy Trutie told us that Gimenez wanted to attract jobs in information technology, engineering and life sciences. Trutie said that Gimenez had held meetings with individuals within those industries about locating or expanding in Miami-Dade County. We didn't rate his promise immediately and decided to watch his progress.
Several months after Gimenez won re-election in August 2012, we circled back to County Hall and other experts to evaluate his progress.
Gimenez's promise overlaps with the Beacon Council's One Community One Goal initiative to create 75,000 new jobs in Miami-Dade County between 2012 and 2017 with a focus on targeted industries including IT and life sciences. (In March, the board of the Beacon Council -- the county's economic development arm -- ousted it's longtime director Frank Nero and is searching for a permanent director.)
The Beacon Council sent us a list of companies that do work in IT, engineering or life sciences that have finalized deals with the council to add jobs in Miami-Dade County since October 2012.
Here are the companies and the jobs they promised to provide within three years:
Avadora USA from Brazil, web design/development: 15
Four Winds Interactive from Denver, digital signage: 70
Helix Hearing Care from Canada, treat hearing loss: 10
IECISA from Spain, information and communication technologies: 20
Neocis LLC, a Miami-Dade start-up and medical device company: 25
Sapient Corp., consulting/technology/marketing firm expansion: 67
Univision, TV network expansion: 346
The total adds up to 553 jobs. The lowest average salary for these firms is $50,000.
All of these companies were approved for financial incentives by the county and/or state but only get the money after they created the jobs and promised investment.
These are companies that do some work in the sectors identified by Gimenez, but it doesn't mean all of the jobs are in IT, engineering or life sciences. For example, some of these jobs could be for receptionists or in the case of Univision, reporters. The average wage of these jobs will be $45,000.
Let's take a look at the one expected to produce the largest number of jobs: Univision/ABC news, which will launch a new English-language TV news network targeting Hispanics headquartered at the Univision studios in Doral. The company expects to spend about $275 million to create the network, and Miami-Dade promised about $3.5 million in incentives if the company meets hiring goals. Keeping the company in Miami-Dade was important to local officials as the company considered other locations such as Houston, New York and Los Angeles.
It's somewhat difficult to assess how much credit Gimenez should get for these business locations/expansions. The county is a partner in the Beacon Council but as mayor, Gimenez doesn't set the budget or hire the director (the county passes through business tax money.)
Overall, the employment picture in Miami-Dade is far from rosy. In April, the unemployment rate was 9.6 percent and Miami-Dade employers added 2,600 payroll positions. The Miami Herald reported that slow hiring was due to drops in local government employment, sluggishness in the construction sector and job losses at hospitals.
Chris Lafakis, a senior economist at Moody's who studies Miami-Dade's economy, called the area's job growth in IT, engineering and biotechnology "anemic.Ó
"In terms of the overall job picture, payroll employment in Miami is 1,032,000. That's up by 2,700 since November 2012; a 0.26 percent increase. For comparison, national payroll employment has risen three times as fast over the same period,Ó Lafakis told PolitiFact Florida in an email. "This being said, however, the mayor hasn't been in office for long enough to have an impact on the macro economy. So while he hasn't lived up to his promise so far, he still deserves the benefit of the doubt because not a lot of time has passed.Ó
Gimenez promised to "attract new investment and create high-paying quality jobsÓ and said that he wanted to focus on IT, engineering and life sciences. The new jobs only add up to about 550 -- and they are jobs promised over the next three years, so we don't know yet if they will materialize. We would need to see actual job growth in these areas -- and many more jobs -- to consider this a Promise Kept. But these first steps earn Gimenez an In the Works.
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Sources:
Miami Herald Naked Politics blog, "CEO of Miami-Dade Beacon Council ousted,Ó March 8, 2013
Miami Herald, "Univision-ABC channel reflects Ônew reality" of Hispanic rise in America,Ó Accessed in Nexis, Oct. 11, 2013
Miami Herald, "Slow hiring in Miami-Dade keeps unemployment close to 10 percent,Ó May 17, 2013
PolitiFact, "Gov. Rick Scott's job creation goal gets an unexpected boost, but ...,Ó March 21, 2013
Various company websites, Avadora USA, Four Winds Interactive, Helix Hearing Care, IECISA, Neocis LLC, Sapient Corp, Univision, Accessed June 4, 2013
Interview, Ana Acle-Menendez, spokeswoman for The Beacon Council, June 4, 2013
Interview, Vanessa Santana-Pe–ate, spokewoman for Miami-Dade county, June 4, 2013
Interview, Chris Lafakis, senior economist Moody's, June 5, 2013
