August 6, 2021
The DDA recently launched an online dashboard that highlights current indicators and long-term trends that show that DowntownFTL is on the move. The dashboard focused on three lenses: economy, people, and place. This post outlines the evolution of the DowntownFTL economy over the past several years.
DowntownFTL Has Rapidly Added High Wage Jobs
The growth of high wage jobs based downtown has accelerated over the past several years. From 2017 to 2020 DowntownFTL saw a 39% increase in the number of high wage knowledge sector jobs based downtown. Downtown Fort Lauderdale has become a hub for technology, banking, real estate development and creative services that fuel Greater Fort Lauderdale. Over that period the rapid demand for high wage employers to pick DowntownFTL is demonstrated by a:
188% increase in employment in management of companies and enterprises.
33% growth in the total number of finance and insurance businesses based downtown.
16% increase in professional, scientific, and technical services jobs.
10% increase in employment within the technology sector.
Downtown Fort Lauderdale is also benefiting from South Florida’s evolution as a destination for tech talent. DowntownFTL is home to 27% of all citywide tech jobs and 7% of all tech jobs in Broward County, highlighting that DowntownFTL is a top destination for tech talent within Greater Fort Lauderdale. Companies can clearly say that young talent lives and works downtown due to the 43% increase in the downtown population of residents aged 25 to 44 and a rapid increase in the share of residents with college degrees over the past decade. DowntownFTL has and will continue to be attractive to high wage employers and talent.
Fort Lauderdale Outpaces Peer Cities Based On Share of High Wage Jobs Based Downtown
36% of high-wage knowledge sector jobs in the City of Fort Lauderdale are based downtown, ranking DowntownFTL in a favorable position compared to peer cities across the southeastern United States.
Based on analysis conducted for "The Value of U.S. Downtowns and Center Cities", this metric speaks to a high concentration of both talent and jobs within the urban core. As such, DowntownFTL has about 26,000 jobs per square mile which is over 5 times the citywide average.
The full DowntownFTL Dashboard can be viewed at: https://www.ddaftl.org/dashboard