The cities South Florida competes with for jobs and investment fared much better. Jobs go unfilled, projects don't get launched and morale can suffer as workloads multiply. More broadly, problems with executive recruiting hurt a local economy at every level. On a simple level, big-earners mean more money for area shopkeepers and municipal governments. Looking forward, the evidence is clear that regions with highly trained workers are better-positioned for a new world economy that will depend on technology, information and analytical thinking.
Evidence suggests South Florida is already paying an economic tariff in that regard.
Currently, the jobless rate vacillates between 6.4 and 7 percent in Miami-Dade, and is about 4.5 percent in Broward, while the national figure is at 4.1 percent. At first blush, that would seemingly make it likely that companies would come here for the available labor. It's not that simple. Unemployment is higher here because there's a mismatch between the skills we have and the ones the economy wants. Unless South Florida can staunch its brain drain and reinvent itself as a white-collar employment center, its economy risks being dangerously dependent on sun, sand and surf for the foreseeable future.