| Skip Navigation Links | ||
 |
 |
 |
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: FOR RELEASE:
Cheryl Abbot, Regional Economist April 29, 2008
(214) 767-6970
HOUSTON-SUGAR LAND-BAYTOWN METROPOLITAN AREA JOB GROWTH
LEADS AMONG THE 12 LARGEST AREAS NATIONWIDE
Total nonfarm employment in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan
Statistical Area stood at 2,599,000 in March 2008, an increase of 80,100 jobs
over the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor
reported today. Since March 2007, employment rose 3.2 percent in the local
area, well above the U.S. average of 0.4 percent, and the highest rate of
growth among the 12 largest metropolitan areas in the nation. (See table 1.)
Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the March gain continued
the trend of over-the-year employment increases for Houston that extends back
to March 2004. (See chart A. Data in this release are not seasonally
adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)
Chart A. Total nonfarm employment, over-the-year percent change in the
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area, January 2000-March 2008
Industry employment
In the Houston area, 10 industry supersectors added at least 1,000 jobs
from March 2007 to March 2008, and 3 of these added more than 12,000 during
the period. Professional and business services experienced the largest
employment gain, 17,900, growing 4.8 percent over the year, compared to a
national increase of 0.8 percent. Educational and health services followed
with the addition of 14,500 jobs during the 12-month period, increasing at a
5.2-percent pace. The educational and health services industry accounted for
11 percent of local employment, but 18 percent of job growth during the
period. Trade, transportation, and utilities added the third-largest number
of jobs as employment rose 12,600; this 2.5-percent local rate of growth
compared with a 0.1-percent decline registered nationwide.
Construction employment increased 9,300 from March a year ago, an
increase of 4.8 percent. The gain in construction jobs in Houston compared to
a national decline of 5.1 percent in this industry.
Also adding a large number of jobs in March 2008 were the leisure and
hospitality and manufacturing supersectors. Employment in leisure and
hospitality increased 6,600 from March 2007, registering a 2.9-percent rate of
growth; nationally, this supersector increased 2.4 percent. Locally,
manufacturing added 6,000 jobs, growing 2.6 percent over the year; in
contrast, manufacturing employment fell by 2.3 percent nationwide.
Natural resources and mining, the supersector with the fewest jobs,
registered the fastest rate of gain during the 12-month period in Houston.
This supersector added 4,700 jobs from March a year ago, growing at a 5.6-
percent pace. Nationally, this was also the fastest growing supersector in
the United States at 5.1 percent. Natural resources and mining is much more
important in the local economy, making up 3.4 percent of Houston’s total
employment compared to 0.5 percent nationwide.
Government, the third-largest employer in Houston, accounting for 13.8
percent of the workforce, gained 4,000 jobs during the 12-month span, an
increase of 1.1 percent. Nationally, government employment also rose 1.1
during the period.
Financial activities added 2,500 jobs from March a year ago, an increase
of 1.7 percent. In contrast, employment in financial activities fell 1.3
percent at the national level from March 2007.
Employment in the other services industry (which includes such services
as equipment and machinery repair, dry cleaning and laundry, death care, and
pet care) rose by 1,800 in the Houston metropolitan area, an advance of 1.9
percent. Nationally, this supersector added jobs at a 0.7-percent pace from
March 2007 to March 2008.
Employment in the 12 largest areas
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown was one of the nation’s 12 largest
metropolitan statistical areas in March 2008. Eight of these areas
experienced over-the-year job growth greater than the national increase of 0.4
percent. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown registered the fastest employment gain,
growing at a rate of 3.2 percent from March 2007, followed by Dallas-Fort
Worth-Arlington, up 2.0 percent. The other five areas with above-average
growth were: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. (1.1 percent), Boston-
Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. (1.0 percent), New York-Northern New Jersey-Long
Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.
(both at 0.8 percent), San Francisco-Oakland-Freemont, Calif. (0.6 percent),
and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md (0.5 percent). One other
area, Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis., had job growth that equaled
the national increase of 0.4 percent. (See chart B.)
The three remaining metropolitan areas lost jobs from March 2007 to
March 2008. Employment dropped 0.6 percent in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa
Ana, Calif., 0.8 percent in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, Fla., and 2.3
percent in Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
The fastest growing industry supersector did not vary a lot among the 12
largest areas from March 2007 to March 2008. Education and health services
had the highest percentage increase in employment in seven areas among those
industries adding at least 1,000 jobs: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los
Angeles, Miami, and Washington.
Houston, the area with the fastest rate of employment growth in March
2008, also added the largest number of jobs over the year, 80,100. New York
ranked second with the addition of 65,500 jobs, and Dallas, the area with the
second fastest rate of growth, followed with 58,200. In 8 of the 12 areas –
Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and
Philadelphia, – the educational and health services supersector added the most
jobs. In two areas – Atlanta and Washington – government had the largest
numerical increase, while professional and business services led in Houston
and San Francisco.
Chart B. Over-the-year percent change in employment, 12 largest metropolitan
areas and the United States, March 2008
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 by subscription from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 (telephone 202-512-1800). Industry
employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the CES program are also
available in the above-mentioned news releases and from the Internet at
(http://www.bls.gov/sae/).
For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment
Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Southwest
Information Office at 214-767-6970 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.
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 2002 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
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 http://www.bls.gov/sae/790stderr.htm.
Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at http://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 5, 2005. A list of the geographic
definitions is published annually in the May issue of Employment and Earnings.
The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty,
Montgomery, San Jacinto, and Waller Counties in Texas.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Last Modified Date: April 29, 2008 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Back to Top |
www.dol.gov |
|
Frequently Asked Questions |
Freedom of Information Act |
Customer Survey |
Important Web Site Notices
Privacy & Security Statement | Linking and Copyright Information | Technical (web) question | Other comments  Sorry for the interruption.Please help us improve our website by participating in the survey that begins below! Our Pledge of Privacy
Click on the yes button below to take the survey after you have finished visiting our website. The survey will be available in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen when you are ready to take it. 
|
|