Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,320,400 in November 2011, up 22,300 or 0.5 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.2 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that the Chicago area recorded year-to-year job growth of at least 10,000 jobs for 14 consecutive months. (See chart 1 and table 1. 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 three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 85 percent of the area’s workforce, added 25,600 jobs from November a year ago. (See table 1.) The metropolitan division of Lake County-Kenosha County also added jobs over the 12-month period, up 1,800, while the Gary Metropolitan Division lost 5,100.

Industry employment

The largest over-the-year employment increase in the Chicago metropolitan area in November 2011 was in professional and business services, up 18,000. The Chicago area’s 2.6-percent rate of job growth in this supersector was less than the 3.1-percent gain nationwide. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Locally, year-over-year job gains in professional and business services have been recorded since April 2010.

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the largest supersector in Chicago, was the second largest job gainer in the area, with an employment increase of 11,400 from November a year ago. This supersector’s 1.3-percent growth rate was lower than 1.6-percent gain nationwide. For the Chicago area, this was the 12th consecutive month of increasing employment of 7,000 or more in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector.

Two other supersectors added more than 3,000 jobs in the Chicago area from November 2010 to November 2011—construction and education and health services. Construction expanded by 6,800 or 4.4 percent during this period compared to a 0.2-percent gain nationally. Locally, this supersector has experienced over-the-year employment gains of 3,000 or more since January 2011. Employment in education and health services rose by 3,200 or 0.5 percent from November a year ago. This rate of growth was less than the 2.1-percent increase nationwide. Over-the year employment growth in this industry has been recorded since December 1999 in the Chicago area, with gains of at least 9,600 from January 2010 to May 2011. However, since June 2011 this supersector has had over-the-year gains of 4,500 or less.

Locally, only one other supersector—manufacturing—added more than 1,000 jobs from November a year ago. Employment in this supersector rose by 1,300 or 0.3 percent over the past 12 months compared to a 1.7-percent increase nationally.

The largest job loss in the Chicago metropolitan area occurred in government, down 7,800 from November 2010. Locally, this supersector’s 1.4-percent decline in employment was close to the 1.2-percent decline nationally. In the Chicago metropolitan area, government has experienced over-the-year job losses since July 2010. Area employment in two other supersectors—information (down 5,100 jobs) and other services (down 3,100)—also declined between November 2010 to November 2011.The Chicago area’s 6.4-percent rate of employment decline in the information supersector exceeded the 2.0-percent decrease nationwide. (See table 1.)

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in November 2011. Ten of these areas experienced over-the-year job gains during the period, with five—Houston, Boston, Dallas, Miami, Detroit—registering rates of job growth more than the 1.2-percent national average. In contrast, two other areas—Atlanta and Philadelphia—experienced employment losses of 0.6 and 0.1 percent, respectively. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

Of the 10 areas registering employment increases from the previous November, Houston added the largest number of jobs, 87,900. Dallas added the second most jobs at 57,300, followed by Boston (50,400) and Miami (30,200). Four other areas added at least 20,000 jobs, while only two lost jobs over the year.

Among the 12 metropolitan areas, professional and business services registered the largest employment gain in 6 areas (Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, San Francisco, and Washington); education and health services experienced the largest increases in 3 areas (Boston, Miami, and Philadelphia), and trade, transportation, and utilities had the largest gains in 2 areas (Atlanta and New York).

Government posted the largest employment decreases in 8 of the 12 metropolitan areas, while financial activities registered the largest losses in 2 areas (Atlanta and San Francisco). Information suffered the largest drop in Miami, and trade, transportation, and utilities declined the most in Washington.

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program.

Definitions.  Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period that 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 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 that 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, 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 the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

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

Area definitions.  The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, 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-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• 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 on line 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/.

For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Midwest Information Office at (312) 353-1880 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.