Total nonfarm employment for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,896,900 in May 2016, up 58,600, or 2.1 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.7 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the Philadelphia area has not had an over-the-year employment decline in more than five years. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of four metropolitan divisions¾separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. All four divisions saw employment increases over the year. The Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County Metropolitan Division, with 37 percent of the area’s employment, gained 18,900 jobs since last May. The Philadelphia Metropolitan Division, with 32 percent of local employment, added 16,800 jobs over the year. The Camden Metropolitan Division, with 19 percent of the area’s employment, and the Wilmington Metropolitan Division, with the remaining area employment, gained 13,600 and 9,300 jobs, respectively, over the year.

Industry employment

In the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, professional and business services had the largest employment gain from May 2015 to May 2016, adding 20,600 jobs. The Philadelphia area’s 4.6-percent growth in professional and business services employment was higher than the nationwide increase of 2.7 percent. While all four divisions added jobs over the year, the Wilmington division had the fastest rate of job growth, at 8.9 percent.(See chart 2.)

Education and health services employment increased by 13,400 since last May, the second-largest gain in the Philadelphia area. The local rate of job growth, at 2.2 percent, was slower than the national advance of 3.1 percent. Of the four local divisions, the Philadelphia division saw the largest increase for this industry, adding 6,400 jobs.

Two other supersectors in the Philadelphia area gained 5,000 or more jobs since last May—trade, transportation, and utilities (10,600); and leisure and hospitality (5,000). The 2.1-percent local rate of employment growth in trade, transportation, and utilities was faster than the nationwide increase of 1.6 percent. The local job gain in leisure and hospitality, at 1.9 percent, lagged the national increase of 2.5 percent.

Only one supersector in the Philadelphia area lost jobs over the year—information (-1,700). The majority of the information job loss occurred in the Philadelphia division.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Philadelphia was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in May 2016. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with 8 exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area had the fastest rate of job growth, at 3.7 percent, followed by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale at 3.1 percent. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area had the slowest rate of job growth, up 0.2 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area added the largest number of jobs, 154,500 since May 2015. Employment in New York-Newark-Jersey City and Dallas also increased by over 100,000 each. Houston had the smallest gain, adding just 5,100 jobs over the 12-month period.

Education and health services had the most job growth in 4 of the 12 metropolitan areas from last May— Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York. Professional and business services added the greatest number of jobs in Philadelphia, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria; and trade, transportation, and utilities added the most in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Dallas, and Phoenix. These two supersectors added an equal number of jobs in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach. Leisure and hospitality added the most jobs in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin.

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in five areas—Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. Information shed the largest number of jobs in Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Metropolitan area employment data for June 2016 are scheduled to be released on Friday, July 22, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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 between State employment security agencies and 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 2012 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 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 www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on February 29, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

• The Camden, N.J. Metropolitan Division includes Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey.
• The Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County, Pa. Metropolitan Division includes Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania.
• The Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Division includes Delaware and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania.
• The Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. Metropolitan Division includes New Castle County in   Delaware; Cecil County in Maryland; and Salem County in New Jersey.

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 online 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/.

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