Southwest Information Office

Dallas, Texas

For release:  Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Contact information:  (972) 850-4800  •  BLSInfoDallas@bls.gov  •  www.bls.gov/ro6       


 
                                 DALLAS-FORT WORTH-AREA EMPLOYMENT - OCTOBER 2009

Total nonfarm employment in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,931,500 in 
October 2009, down 59,100 or 2.0 percent from October 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. 
During the same period, the national job count decreased 4.0 percent. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman 
noted that this was the 10th consecutive month of over-the-year job losses following nearly five years of expansion 
in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. (See chart 1 and table 1; Technical Note at end of release contains metropolitan area 
definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used 
throughout.) 


          Chart 1.  Total nonfarm employment, over-the-year net change in the Dallas metropolitan
          area and its divisions, October 2003-October 2009
          


The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area is comprised of two metropolitan divisions -- 
separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. In the Dallas-Plano-Irving 
Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 70 percent of the area’s workforce, employment fell by 52,800 from 
October a year ago, a decline of 2.5 percent. The Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 
30 percent of the area workforce, lost 6,300 jobs during the same period, a 0.7-percent rate of decrease.


Industry employment
In the greater Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, 8 of 10 industry supersectors experienced over-the-
year declines. Trade, transportation, and utilities -- the largest local supersector -- reported the largest employment 
loss, down 24,100 from October 2008, a decline of 3.8 percent. Losses in this industry were experienced in both 
metropolitan divisions, but the rate of decline was greater in Dallas-Plano-Irving than in Fort Worth-Arlington 
(down 4.9 and 1.6 percent, respectively). Nationwide, jobs in trade, transportation, and utilities were down 4.4 
percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)

Employment in local professional and business services fell by 22,000 over the year, a decline of 4.9 percent, with 
more than 90 percent of the loss occurring in the Dallas-Plano-Irving metropolitan division. Nationwide, 
employment in this industry declined 5.4 percent.

Two other local supersectors lost approximately 10,000 jobs from October 2008 to October 2009. Employment in 
mining, logging, and construction was down 10,700 or 5.6 percent, with nearly all of the losses in the Dallas-Plano-
Irving division. Local manufacturing employment fell by 9,600 during the same period. The rate of manufacturing 
job loss was steeper in the Fort Worth-Arlington division (-4.5 percent) than in Dallas-Plano-Irving (-2.8 percent). 
However, losses in both areas were far slower than the national manufacturing employment decline of 11.2 percent.


          Chart 2.  Over-the-year percent change in employment by industry supersector, 
          United States and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, October 2009
          


Other local supersectors recording job losses on an annual basis included: financial activities (-6,800); other services 
(-6,100); information (-3,700); and leisure and hospitality (-2,100).

Over-the-year job gains were limited to two supersectors in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area. 
Education and health services experienced the largest increase adding 22,300 jobs over the year, a gain of 6.6 
percent, well above the national growth rate of 2.0 percent. The Dallas-Plano-Irving division accounted for more 
than 90 percent of the expansion in this local supersector.

Government employment rose by 3,700 in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area from October a year 
ago, with more than 80 percent of the growth (3,000 jobs) occurring in the Fort Worth-Arlington division. Public 
sector employment rose 1.0 percent in the greater metropolitan area, while it slipped 0.4 percent nationwide.

Employment in the 12 largest areas
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in October 2009. All of 
these areas experienced over-the-year job losses ranging from 7.2 to 0.8 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.) 
Nationally, employment fell 4.0 percent from October 2008 to October 2009.

Four of the 12 areas -- Detroit-Warren-Livonia (-7.2 percent), Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta (-5.7 percent), and 
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (-4.4 percent each), experienced employment losses 
steeper than the national rate of decline.


          Chart 3.  Over-the-year percent change in employment, United States and 12 largest 
          metropolitan areas, October 2009
          


Eight metropolitan areas had smaller-than-average percentage losses. Four of these experienced declines in the 
3.7- to 3.0-percent range:  Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Miami-Fort 
Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown. Percentage losses were smaller in the areas of 
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (both -2.5 percent), as well as Dallas-
Fort Worth-Arlington (-2.0 percent). The smallest job loss was registered in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria at 
0.8 percent.

Two metropolitan areas experienced employment declines of over 200,000 from October a year ago -- New York 
(218,200) and Los Angeles (-203,000). Chicago job losses were nearly as high at 197,800. Only one area, 
Washington, lost fewer than 50,000 jobs during this 12-month period.

Employment declines were heaviest in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector in 6 of the 12 areas, 
while manufacturing registered the largest loss in 3 additional areas. Conversely, job gains in education and 
health services were the strongest in seven areas. Three metropolitan areas failed to add at least 1,000 jobs in
any industry supersector -- Chicago, Detroit, and San Francisco.


Additional information
     For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment Statistics program, as well as 
other Bureau programs, contact the Southwest Information Office at 972-850-4800 from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. 
and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals 
upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone: 1-800-877-8339.



                                               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 in which State employment security agencies 
prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment Definition. 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 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 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 on November 20, 2008.  A detailed list of geographic 
definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

     The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Collin, Dallas, Delta,
     Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, and Wise Counties in Texas.
     
     The Dallas-Plano-Irving Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Collin, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, 
     Kaufman, and Rockwall Counties in Texas.

     The Fort Worth-Arlington Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Johnson, Parker, Tarrant, and Wise Counties 
     in Texas.
     
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Last Modified Date: December 1, 2009