Total nonfarm employment for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,860,600 in August 2016, up 60,700, or 2.2 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 15,200 jobs since last August. The Philadelphia Metropolitan Division, with 32 percent of local employment, added 20,800 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 15,500 and 9,200 jobs, respectively, over the year.

Industry employment

In the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, professional and business services had the largest employment gain from August 2015 to August 2016, adding 19,300 jobs. The Philadelphia area’s 4.3-percent growth in professional and business services employment was higher than the nationwide increase of 2.7 percent. While all four divisions added jobs in this supersector over the year, the Wilmington division had the fastest rate of job growth, at 10.5 percent. (See chart 2.)

Education and health services employment increased by 14,000 since August 2015, the second-largest gain in the Philadelphia area. The local rate of job growth, at 2.4 percent, was slower than the national advance of 2.8 percent. Of the four local divisions, the Philadelphia division had the largest increase for this industry, adding 9,200 jobs.

Two other supersectors in the Philadelphia area gained 5,000 or more jobs since last August—leisure and hospitality (8,900) and trade, transportation, and utilities (6,100). The 3.4-percent local rate of employment growth in leisure and hospitality was faster than the nationwide increase of 2.7 percent. The local job gain in trade, transportation, and utilities, was 1.2 percent compared to the national increase of 1.4 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Philadelphia was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2016. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of growth in 10 areas exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, 3.4 percent, followed by Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell at 2.7 percent. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area had the slowest rate of job growth, up 0.5 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs, 184,200, since August 2015. Employment in Dallas and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim also increased added over 100,000 jobs each. Houston had the smallest gain, adding 14,200 jobs over the 12-month period.

Education and health services had the most job growth in 5 of the 12 metropolitan areas from August a year ago—Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward. Professional and business services added the greatest number of jobs in three areas—Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria..

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in six areas—Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami. New York and Philadelphia were the only areas to experience no job losses for any supersector since last August.

Metropolitan area employment data for September 2016 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, November 2, 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.