Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,542,000 in February 2016, up 77,000, or 1.7 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.9 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that the Chicago metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment increases each month since October 2010. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Chicago metropolitan area is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 80 percent of the area’s workforce, added 62,100 jobs from February a year ago. Employment in the Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division increased by 8,800, while employment in the Elgin Metropolitan Division and the Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division grew by 4,500 and 1,600, respectively, over the year.

Industry employment

The largest over-the-year employment increase in the Chicago metropolitan area in February 2016 was in the leisure and hospitality industry, up 21,100, or 5.0 percent. The Chicago metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment increases each month since August 2010 in the leisure and hospitality industry. Local area employment growth was concentrated in the Chicago division which added 18,200 jobs. Nationwide, employment in leisure and hospitality rose 2.9 percent from the previous February. (See chart 2.)

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the largest supersector in the Chicago area, added 16,200 jobs, a 1.8-percent gain from February a year ago. This supersector has had over-the-year employment increases each month since October 2010. In the recent annual period, the Chicago division added 8,300 jobs and the Lake division added 5,500 jobs. Nationally, employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector increased 1.8 percent from February 2015. Local growth in this supersector was strong in retail trade which gained 10,300 jobs since last February. The Chicago division added 6,600 jobs and the Gary division gained 2,000 jobs over-the-year. Nationally, employment in retail trade increased 2.3 percent from the previous February.

Locally, education and health services employment increased by 15,400, a 2.2-percent gain from February 2015 to February 2016. This supersector has experienced over-the-year increases of greater than 1,000 each month since December 1999. In the recent 12-month period, employment in the Chicago division was up by 14,400 or 2.5 percent. Nationwide, employment in this supersector rose 3.2 percent from February a year ago.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Chicago was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in February 2016. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with 9 exceeding the national average of 1.9 percent. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with 9 exceeding the national average of 1.9 percent. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale areas had the fastest rates of job growth, up 3.5 percent each, followed by San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward at 3.4 percent. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area had the slowest rate of job growth, up 0.3 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs, 181,700, since February 2015. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Dallas areas added more than 100,000 jobs each. Houston had the smallest gain, adding 9,000 jobs over the 12-month period.

Professional and business services had the most job growth in 5 of the 12 metropolitan areas from February a year ago—Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Education and health services added the most jobs in Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles, and New York.

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in four areas—Boston, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. Three areas experienced no annual job losses in any supersector since last February—Miami, New York, and Philadelphia.

Metropolitan area employment data for March 2016 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2012 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. The employment data are estimated using a "link relative" technique in which a ratio (link relative) of current-month employment to that of the previous month is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official estimators for approximately 39 percent of CES published series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimates.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey and administrative data and thus are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability—that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data are also subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on February 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

• The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• The Elgin, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes DeKalb and Kane Counties.
• The Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Lake County in Illinois and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
• The Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana.

 

Additional information

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.