Employment increased for all large metropolitan areas over the last 25 years

Over the last 25 years, Austin-Round Rock, Texas, and Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nevada, had the largest percentage increase in employment (144 percent) among metropolitan areas with a Census 2010 population of 1 million or more. Other areas where employment more than doubled from March 1991 to March 2016 were Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, and Raleigh, North Carolina. There were no large areas with a decrease in employment over that period.

Over the last 10 years, Austin-Round Rock, Texas, had the largest percentage increase in employment among large areas (36.8 percent). Raleigh, North Carolina, had the second-largest increase (23.9 percent). The remaining areas with increases greater than 20 percent included 3 areas in Texas: San Antonio-New Brunfels; Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land; and Dallas Fort-Worth Arlington. New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana, had an increase in employment of 19.6 percent. Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio, and Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan, had the largest decreases in employment over the last 10 years (−2.6 percent each). Other areas with decreases in employment were Birmingham-Hoover, Alabama; Memphis, TN-MS-AR; and Providence-Warwick, RI-MA.

From March 2015 to March 2016, nonfarm employment rose in 50 of the 51 metropolitan areas with a 2010 Census population of 1 million or more and fell in Rochester, New York (−0.5 percent). The largest over-the-year percentage increase in employment in these large metropolitan areas occurred in Richmond, Virginia (4.5 percent), followed by Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida (4.3 percent), and Austin-Round Rock, Texas (4.1 percent).

These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (State and Metro Area) program and are not seasonally adjusted. Data for the most recent month are preliminary. To learn more, see “Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment — March 2016” (HTML) (PDF).