Total nonfarm employment for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, metropolitan area increased by 96,800 over the year in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the local rate of job gain, 3.0 percent, compared to the 2.1-percent national increase. (See chart 1 and table 1.)  (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change for total nonfarm employment in the United States and the Houston metropolitan area, July 2020–July 2023

Period	United States	Houston
Jul 2020	-7.7	-7.6
Aug 2020	-6.9	-7.4
Sep 2020	-6.3	-7.0
Oct 2020	-5.9	-6.2
Nov 2020	-5.9	-5.9
Dec 2020	-6.0	-5.7
Jan 2021	-6.1	-6.0
Feb 2021	-5.9	-6.5
Mar 2021	-4.4	-5.0
Apr 2021	10.9	7.0
May 2021	9.0	5.1
Jun 2021	5.9	4.0
Jul 2021	5.4	5.5
Aug 2021	4.6	5.2
Sep 2021	4.2	5.1
Oct 2021	4.2	5.4
Nov 2021	4.5	5.4
Dec 2021	5.0	5.7
Jan 2022	4.9	5.4
Feb 2022	5.3	6.5
Mar 2022	5.0	5.8
Apr 2022	4.9	6.3
May 2022	4.7	6.2
Jun 2022	4.5	5.8
Jul 2022	4.3	5.7
Aug 2022	4.2	6.0
Sep 2022	4.0	5.9
Oct 2022	3.6	5.1
Nov 2022	3.4	4.6
Dec 2022	3.1	4.6
Jan 2023	3.3	4.9
Feb 2023	2.9	4.3
Mar 2023	2.7	4.4
Apr 2023	2.6	3.6
May 2023	2.6	3.7
Jun 2023	2.4	3.8
Jul 2023	2.1	3.0

In Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, trade, transportation, and utilities had the largest gain (+28,500) among the metropolitan area’s private-industry supersectors. (See chart 2.) Within the supersector, wholesale trade employment increased by 9,500 jobs, and retail trade gained 8,900 jobs. The 4.3-percent increase in the metropolitan area’s trade, transportation, and utilities supersector compared to the 0.6-percent gain on a national level.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year net change for industry supersector employment in the Houston metropolitan area, July 2023

Industry	Net change (in thousands)
Trade, transportation, and utilities*	28.5
Education and health services*	27.8
Professional and business services	16.1
Manufacturing	8.5
Financial activities	7.2
Mining and logging	4.7
Leisure and hospitality	1.8
Information	0.0
Construction	-1.2
Other services	-2.4
Note: An asterisk indicates statistical significance at the 90-percent confidence level. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Education and health services gained 27,800 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area. Within this supersector, health care and social assistance employment increased by 24,100. The metropolitan area had a 6.6-percent increase compared to the 4.1-percent increase for the nation.

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in July 2023. All 12 areas gained jobs over the year. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, had the largest increase (+227,000), followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (+178,600), and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (+152,600). Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, had the smallest increase (+48,800), closely followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA (+52,300), and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (+52,800), among the largest areas. (See table 2 and chart 3.)

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, had a 4.4-percent rate of job gain. The rates of job gain in the remaining 11 areas ranged from 3.1 percent in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, to 1.4 percent in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI.

  

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Chart 3. Over-the-year net change in total nonfarm employment for the 12 largest metropolitan areas, July 2023 (in thousands)

Area	Net change (in thousands)
New York*	227.0
Dallas*	178.6
Los Angeles*	152.6
Houston*	96.8
Philadelphia*	94.0
Boston*	81.1
Miami*	77.1
Chicago*	64.5
San Francisco*	62.9
Phoenix*	52.8
Atlanta*	52.3
Washington*	48.8
Note: An asterisk indicates statistical significance at the 90-percent confidence level. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for August 2023 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. (CT).

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the CES program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. More information about the CES data is available in the State Employment and Unemployment Summary and the Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment Summary.

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 2022 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria. For some employment series, the estimates are produced with a model that uses direct sample estimates (described above) combined with other regressors to compensate for smaller sample sizes.

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. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available in the CES State and Area benchmark article.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample surveys, administrative data, and modeling 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 also are 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 specific estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal totals shown in the same tables due to rounding.

Employment estimates. Changes in metropolitan area nonfarm payroll employment are cited in the analysis of this release only if they have been determined to be statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level. Reliability of state and area estimates for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this news release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. The 12 metropolitan areas discussed in this release are the metropolitan areas with the largest population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller Counties.

Additional information

Employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.