Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Wednesday, February 2, 2022 			      USDL-22-1053

Technical information: 
 Employment:     (202) 691-6559  *  sminfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/sae 
 Unemployment:   (202) 691-6392  *  lausinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/lau 

Media contact:   (202) 691-5902  *  PressOffice@bls.gov


           METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT -- DECEMBER 2021


Unemployment rates were lower in December than a year earlier in 375 of the 389 metropolitan
areas, higher in 13 areas, and unchanged in 1 area, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
reported today. A total of 141 areas had jobless rates of less than 3.0 percent and 1 area
had a rate of at least 10.0 percent. Nonfarm payroll employment increased over the year in
108 metropolitan areas and was essentially unchanged in 281 areas. The national unemployment
rate in December was 3.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, down from 6.5 percent a year
earlier.

This news release presents statistics from two monthly programs. The civilian labor force
and unemployment data are based on the same concepts and definitions as those used for the
national household survey estimates. These data pertain to individuals by where they reside.
The employment data are from an establishment survey that measures nonfarm employment,
hours, and earnings by industry. These data pertain to jobs on payrolls defined by where the
establishments are located. For more information about the concepts and statistical
methodologies used by these two programs, see the Technical Note.

Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

In December, Elkhart-Goshen, IN, had the lowest unemployment rate, 0.9 percent, closely 
followed by Bloomington, IN, and Columbus, IN, 1.0 percent each. El Centro, CA, had the
highest rate, 14.7 percent. A total of 245 areas had December jobless rates below the U.S. 
rate of 3.7 percent, 135 areas had rates above it, and 9 areas had rates equal to that of
the nation. (See table 1.)

The largest over-the-year unemployment rate decrease in December occurred in Kahului-
Wailuku-Lahaina, HI (-7.1 percentage points). Rates fell over the year by at least 4.0 
percentage points in an additional 19 areas. No area had a jobless rate increase of more
than 0.4 percentage point.

Of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 2010 Census population of 1 million or more,
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN, had the lowest jobless rate in December, 1.2 percent,
followed by Salt Lake City, UT, 1.3 percent. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV, had the
highest unemployment rate, 6.0 percent. Fifty large areas had over-the-year unemployment
rate decreases, the largest of which was in Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI (-6.0 percentage
points). The only positive rate difference relative to December 2020 was marginal (+0.1 
percentage point in Jacksonville, FL). 

Metropolitan Division Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

Eleven of the most populous metropolitan areas are made up of 38 metropolitan divisions,
which are essentially separately identifiable employment centers. In December 2021, Miami-
Miami Beach-Kendall, FL, had the lowest division unemployment rate, 1.4 percent. New York-
Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA, had the highest
rates among the divisions, 6.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. (See table 2.)

In December, all 38 metropolitan divisions had over-the-year unemployment rate decreases.
Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI, had the largest rate decline (-7.3 percentage points). 

Metropolitan Area Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

In December, 108 metropolitan areas had over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll
employment and 281 were essentially unchanged. The largest over-the-year employment
increases occurred in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA (+427,300), Los Angeles-Long
Beach-Anaheim, CA (+387,900), and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (+196,900). The largest
over-the-year percentage gains in employment occurred in Yuma, AZ (+10.1 percent), Atlantic
City-Hammonton, NJ (+9.1 percent), and Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL, and Kahului-Wailuku-
Lahaina, HI (+9.0 percent each). (See table 3.)

Over the year, nonfarm employment increased in 48 metropolitan areas with a 2010 Census
population of 1 million or more, while employment was essentially unchanged in 3 areas.
The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment in these large metropolitan
areas occurred in Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV (+8.8 percent), Orlando-Kissimmee-
Sanford, FL (+7.7 percent), and Austin-Round Rock, TX, and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro,
OR-WA (+7.3 percent each). 

Metropolitan Division Nonfarm Employment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

In December, nonfarm payroll employment increased in 27 metropolitan divisions and was
essentially unchanged in 11 divisions over the year. The largest over-the-year increase
in employment among the metropolitan divisions occurred in New York-Jersey City-White
Plains, NY-NJ (+338,300), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA (+282,300), and
Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, IL (+164,000). (See table 4.)

The largest over-the-year percentage increases in employment occurred in San Francisco-
Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA (+8.1 percent), Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI (+7.6 
percent), and Camden, NJ, and San Rafael, CA (+7.2 percent each). 

_____________
The Regional and State Unemployment 2021 Annual Averages news release is scheduled
to be released on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The State Employment
and Unemployment news release for January 2022 is scheduled to be released on Monday,
March 14, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment
news release for January 2022 is scheduled to be released on Friday, March 18, 2022,
at 10:00 a.m. (ET).


 _______________________________________________________________________________________
|											|
|                Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on December 2021                |
|                        Establishment and Household Survey Data			|
|											|
| Data collection for both surveys was affected by the pandemic. In the establishment	|
| survey, more data continued to be collected by web than in months prior to the	|
| pandemic. In the household survey, for the safety of both interviewers and		|
| respondents, in-person interviews were conducted only when telephone interviews	|
| could not be done.									|
|											|
| For the December 2021 estimates of household employment and unemployment from the	|
| Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program, BLS continued to implement		|
| level-shift outliers in the employment and/or unemployment inputs to the state	|
| models, based on statistical evaluation of movements in each area's inputs. These	|
| level shifts preserved movements in the published estimates that the models 		|
| otherwise would have discounted, without requiring changes to how the models create	|
| estimates at other points in the time series.						|
|											|
| The "Frequently asked questions" document at 						|
| www.bls.gov/covid19/employment-situation-covid19-faq-december-2021.htm extensively	|
| discusses the impact of a misclassification in the household survey on the national	|
| estimates for December 2021. Despite the considerable decline in its degree 		|
| relative to prior months, this misclassification continued to be widespread 		|
| geographically, which in turn affected the official LAUS estimates for December	|
| 2021.											|
|											|
| Household data for substate areas are controlled to the employment and unemployment	|
| totals for their respective model-based areas. Hence, the preliminary December and	|
| revised November estimates for substate areas reflect the use of level-shift outliers,|
| where implemented, in the inputs for their model-based control areas. The substate	|
| area estimates also were impacted by misclassification in the household survey, in	|
| proportion to the impacts of the misclassifications on the data for their model-based	|
| control areas.									|
|											|
| Household data for Puerto Rico are not modeled, but rather are derived from a monthly	|
| household survey similar to the Current Population Survey. The Puerto Rico Department	|
| of Labor has reported a misclassification in its household survey similar in nature   |
| to the misclassification in the Current Population Survey, which has affected the	|
| local area data proportionally.							|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________|


 _______________________________________________________________________________________
|              										|
|              Upcoming Changes to Local Area Unemployment Statistics Data              |
|											|
| Effective with the release of Regional and State Unemployment 2021 Annual Averages	|
| on March 2, 2022, the civilian labor force and unemployment data for census regions	|
| and divisions and all states, the District of Columbia, and the modeled substate 	|
| areas presented in tables 1 and 2 of this news release will be revised from 2017 to 	|
| 2021 to incorporate updated inputs, new population controls, and reestimation of 	|
| models. The new population controls will reflect a "blended base," which is 2010 	|
| Census-based and controlled to elements from the 2020 Census and other sources. 	|
| Subsequently, civilian labor force and unemployment estimates for all other 		|
| metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions will be revised to reflect updated 	|
| inputs and adjustment to the new statewide estimates. These revised estimates will be |
| published in conjunction with the March 2022 State Employment and Unemployment news 	|
| release on April 15, 2022.								|
|											|
| Effective with the January 2022 State Employment and Unemployment news release on	|
| March 14, 2022, real-time implementation of level-shift outliers in the employment	|
| and/or unemployment inputs to the models will be discontinued. These real-time level	|
| shifts were introduced in response to the pandemic to preserve movements in the	|
| published estimates that the models otherwise would have discounted. BLS has 		|
| determined that these interventions are no longer necessary on a real-time basis.	|
| Outlier detection and level-shift implementation will revert to retrospective 	|
| activities conducted during annual processing.					|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________|


 _______________________________________________________________________________________
|              										|
|                Upcoming Changes to Current Employment Statistics Data                 |
|											|
| Effective with the release of January 2022 estimates on March 14, 2022, the Current 	|
| Employment Statistics (CES) program will implement a new generation small area model  |
| for state and metropolitan area series. The new model will replace the CES small 	|
| domain model and variants of the Fay-Herriot model in estimating private sector 	|
| series with insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimation. More information 	|
| on the new model is detailed in the paper "Bayesian Nonparametric Joint Model for 	|
| Point Estimates and Variances" by Julie Gershunskaya and Terrance Savitsky, available |
| at www.bls.gov/osmr/research-papers/2019/st190020.htm. 				|
|  											|
| Also effective with the release of January 2022 estimates, all nonfarm payroll 	|
| employment estimates for states and areas presented in tables 3 and 4 of this news 	|
| release will be adjusted to 2021 benchmark levels. Not seasonally adjusted data 	|
| beginning with April 2020 and seasonally adjusted data beginning with January 2017 	|
| are subject to revision. Some not seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted series  |
| may be revised as far back as 1990.							|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________|

Technical Note
  
   This news release presents civilian labor force and unemployment data from the
Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program (tables 1 and 2) for 389
metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan New England City and Town Areas
(NECTAs), plus 7 areas in Puerto Rico. Estimates for 38 metropolitan and NECTA
divisions also are presented. Nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the
Current Employment Statistics (CES) program (tables 3 and 4) are provided for
the same areas. State estimates were previously published in the news release
State Employment and Unemployment, and are republished in this news release for
ease of reference. The LAUS and CES programs are both federal-state cooperative
endeavors.

Civilian labor force and unemployment--from the LAUS program

   Definitions. The civilian labor force and unemployment data are based on the
same concepts and definitions as those used for the official national estimates
obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a sample survey of households
that is conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census
Bureau. The LAUS program measures employed persons and unemployed persons on a
place-of-residence basis.  The universe for each is the civilian noninstitutional
population 16 years of age and older. Employed persons are those who did any work
at all for pay or profit in the reference week (typically the week including the
12th of the month) or worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or
farm, plus those not working who had a job from which they were temporarily absent,
whether or not paid, for such reasons as labor-management dispute, illness, or
vacation. Unemployed persons are those who were not employed during the reference
week (based on the definition above), had actively looked for a job sometime in the
4-week period ending with the reference week, and were currently available for work;
persons on layoff expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as
unemployed. The civilian labor force is the sum of employed and unemployed persons.
The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed as a percent of the civilian labor
force.

   Method of estimation. Estimates for states, the District of Columbia, the Los
Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan division, and New York City are produced
using time-series models with real-time benchmarking to national CPS totals. Model-
based estimates are also produced for the following areas and their respective
balances: the Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, IL Metropolitan Division;
Cleveland-Elyria, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area; Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
Metropolitan Statistical Area; Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL Metropolitan Division;
and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA Metropolitan Division. Modeling improves the
statistical basis of the estimation for these areas and provides important tools
for analysis, such as measures of errors and seasonally adjusted series. For all
other substate areas in this news release, estimates are prepared through indirect
estimation procedures using a building-block approach.  Estimates of employed
persons, which are based largely on “place of work” estimates from the CES program,
are adjusted to refer to place of residence as used in the CPS. Unemployment
estimates are aggregates of persons previously employed in industries covered by
state unemployment insurance (UI) laws and entrants to the labor force from the
CPS. The substate estimates of employment and unemployment, which geographically
exhaust the entire state, are adjusted proportionally to ensure that they add to
the independently estimated model-based area totals. A detailed description of the
estimation procedures is available from BLS upon request.

   Annual revisions. Civilian labor force and unemployment data shown for the prior
year reflect adjustments made at the beginning of each year, usually implemented with
the issuance of January estimates. The adjusted model-based estimates typically reflect
updated population data from the U.S. Census Bureau, any revisions in other input
data sources, and model re-estimation. All substate estimates then are re-estimated
using updated inputs and adjusted to add to the revised model-based totals. In early
2021, a new generation of time-series models was implemented, resulting in the
replacement of data back to the series beginnings.

Employment--from the 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 2017 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 sample of establishments is very small or highly
variable. In these cases, a model-based approach is used in estimation. These models
use the direct sample estimates (described above), combined with forecasts of historical
(benchmarked) data to decrease volatility in estimation. Two different models
(Fay-Herriot Model and Small Domain Model) are used depending on the industry level
being estimated. For more detailed information about each model, refer to the BLS
Handbook of Methods.

   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.

   Seasonal adjustment. Payroll employment data are seasonally adjusted for states,
metropolitan areas, and metropolitan divisions at the total nonfarm level. For states,
data are seasonally adjusted at the supersector level as well. Revisions to historical
data for the most recent 5 years are made once a year, coincident with annual benchmark
adjustments.

   Payroll employment data are seasonally adjusted concurrently, using all available
estimates including those for the current month, to develop sample-based seasonal factors.
Concurrent sample-based factors are created every month for the current month's preliminary
estimate as well as the previous month's final estimate.

Reliability of the estimates

   The estimates presented in this news 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.

Use of error measures

   Civilian labor force and unemployment estimates. Measures of sampling error are not
available for metropolitan areas or metropolitan divisions. Model-based error measures for
states are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/laus/lastderr.htm. Measures of
nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this news release. Information
on recent data revisions for states and local areas is available online at
www.bls.gov/lau/launews1.htm.

   Employment estimates. Changes in metropolitan area nonfarm payroll employment are cited
in the analysis of this news release only if they have been determined to be statistically
significant at the 90-percent confidence level.  Measures of sampling error for the total
nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions
at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Measures of sampling error for more detailed series
at the area and division level are available upon request. Measures of sampling error for
states  at the supersector level and for the private service-providing, goods-producing,
total private and total nonfarm levels are available on the BLS website at 
www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions
is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.pdf.

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. Data reflect New England City and
Town Area (NECTA) definitions, rather than county-based definitions, in the six New England
States. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available online at
www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

Additional information

   Estimates of unadjusted and seasonally adjusted civilian labor force and unemployment
data for states and seven substate areas are available in the news release State Employment
and Unemployment. Estimates of civilian labor force and unemployment for all states,
metropolitan areas, counties, cities with a population of 25,000 or more, and other areas
used in the administration of various federal economic assistance programs are available
on the Internet at www.bls.gov/lau/. Employment data from the CES program are available on
the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

   Information in this news release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals
upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.