It has been a busy year for the The Miami-Dade Beacon Council.
The county's economic development agency reports it secured 4,989 new job commitments from 32 companies that plan to relocate or expand to the Miami area, the highest-ever in the organization's 36-year history. That includes a dozen technology companies in the biomedical, health tech, financial tech, automotive tech and information technology sectors.
“While 2021 continued to challenge even the best businesses, we at the Beacon Council helped Greater Miami capitalize on the unique opportunities the slowdown presented," said Beacon Council President and CEO Michael Finney. "We helped lure a record number of domestic and international business expansions and relocations, expanding our presence in targeted industries."
It's unclear how many of those new jobs have been created at this point or how many could be remote positions.
With plans to bring 800 jobs to the Miami area, Blockchain.com is one of the biggest potential job creators. The London-based cryptocurrency exchange moved its U.S. headquarters from New York City to Brickell earlier this year as part of an aggressive effort to scale. Investment giant Blackstone purchased two office buildings at MiamiCentral earlier this year, where it said it will open an office for 200 technology employees. Ford will also bring 200 jobs to the county after choosing Miami as a test market for its new "robotaxi" service launched in partnerships with Argo AI and Lyft.
Other technology ventures expanding to the county include Spain-based health tech ACE Group; software company Globant (NYSE: GLOB); Miami-based IT firm Kaseya; and Israeli website creation platform Wix.com.
Barry's Bootcamp, CI Financial, Destination Sports Miami, Citco, Payless and Jansteel are among the non-tech ventures that committed to expanding in the Miami area.
The company relocations, expansions and job commitments will generate $1 billion in annual economic impact for the county and will bring jobs that pay annual average salaries of $120,000 a year, about twice the average wage in Miami-Dade. That could result in an additional $781 million in disposal income among households that secure those positions, said the Beacon Council, which claimed that could provide an economic boost for local shops and restaurants.
“Even in middle of a global pandemic, in a business environment fraught with disruption and uncertainty, The Beacon Council stepped up to deliver for our community, our residents and our businesses,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "[It plays] a vital role in building a more diversified and thriving economy for all Miami-Dade County residents."
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