New England Information Office

Though most industry sectors registered declines in employment throughout New England from March 2008 to March 2009, two had losses in every state-construction and manufacturing. In fact, five of the six states had percentage losses in construction that exceeded the U.S. industry average of 12.6 percent. Nationally, construction's employment losses were the sharpest of any industry sector. Conversely, one industry sector, education and health services, continued to add jobs over the year, nationally and in five of the six New England states, with the exception being Rhode Island where employment held steady but did not decline. Overall, job losses in New England were widespread and employment gains few in March 2009, following the nationwide trend.

In Massachusetts, professional and business services experienced the largest employment decline in March 2009, down 30,000, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities, down 23,000. Construction dropped 17,400 jobs, falling at a rate of 12.8 percent, highest of any industry sector in the Commonwealth. Manufacturing shed 15,000 jobs in March, making it the 26th consecutive month of losses in this industry. Employment in financial activities was down 12,400. Conversely, education and health services added 10,100 jobs from March a year ago.

In Connecticut, professional and business service dropped 16,000 jobs over the year, and construction, 14,900. The percentage decrease in jobs in construction, at 21.9 percent, was the highest in that industry across the six New England states. Other industries with annual employment losses in March 2009 included trade, transportation, and utilities (-12,900) and manufacturing (-11,300). Education and health services employment rose by 6,300 over the year.

In Rhode Island, job losses were widespread including manufacturing (-5,000), trade, transportation, and utilities (-4,600), construction (-3,700) and professional and business services (-3,400). No industry posted an employment gain from March 2008 to March 2009.

Each industry in Maine posted an employment loss over the year, with the exception of education and health services, which added 2,000 jobs. Trade, transportation, and utilities had the largest loss of jobs, down 5,400, followed by manufacturing (-4,500) and construction (-3,100).

In Vermont, manufacturing employment declined 4,300; trade; transportation, and utilities, 3,500; and construction, 3,100. The construction industry losses from March 2008 to March 2009 accounted for almost one-fifth of its jobs. Other industries losing at least 1,000 jobs included professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality. Only education and health service added jobs over the year, up 1,600.

Only three industry sectors in New Hampshire had employment declines of 1,000 or more in March 2009. Manufacturing had the largest losses, down 7,000, followed by construction (-3,400) and professional and business services (-2,200). The over-the-year percentage decreases in jobs in two of these three industries were smaller than their respective rates of decline nationally. Partially offsetting these job losses were gains in education and health services, up 2,300, and trade, transportation, and utilities, up 1,200.

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program for the six New England states. The CES program is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor.

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 2007 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 the approximately 39 percent of CES published series.

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.

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.