Total nonfarm employment for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,904,300 in August 2017, up 51,500, or 1.8 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.5 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the Philadelphia area has not had an over-the-year employment decline in seven 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, added 19,800 jobs since last August. The Philadelphia Metropolitan Division, with 32 percent of the area’s employment, gained 17,500 jobs. The Camden Metropolitan Division, with 19 percent of local employment, added 7,200 jobs; the Wilmington Metropolitan Division, with the remaining 12 percent, gained 7,000 jobs over the year.

Industry employment

In the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, professional and business services had the largest employment gain from August 2016 to August 2017, adding 16,700 jobs. The Philadelphia area’s 3.6-percent growth in professional and business services employment exceeded the nationwide increase of 3.0 percent. (See chart 2.) The Montgomery County division added 13,400 jobs in this supersector.

The education and health services and the leisure and hospitality supersectors had the second and third-largest employment gains in the Philadelphia area. The education and health services supersector added 15,400 jobs locally since August 2016. The local rate of job growth, at 2.5 percent, exceeded the national rate of 2.1 percent. Leisure and hospitality gained 12,900 jobs locally; the 4.8-percent rate of local job growth was more than double the 2.0-percent rate for the nation.

Four other supersectors in the Philadelphia area gained more than 1,000 jobs since last August—mining, logging, and construction (+2,800); trade, transportation, and utilities (+2,400); financial activities (+2,300); and government (+1,700). The 1.1-percent rate of local employment growth in financial activities was slower than the 1.8-percent nationwide increase.

Other services was the only supersector in the Philadelphia area to lose more than 1,000 jobs since last August, down 1,200. The supersector’s local employment decreased 1.0 percent over the year, while national employment rose 1.6 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Philadelphia was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2017. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 9 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.5 percent. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell had the fastest rate of job growth, 3.2 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington at 2.8 percent. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rates of job growth, at 0.6 and 0.5 percent, respectively. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York-Newark-Jersey City added the largest number of jobs, 145,900, followed by Dallas (+96,700) and Atlanta (+86,400). Chicago had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 24,700 jobs. Annual job gains in the eight remaining metropolitan areas ranged from 67,600 to 34,900.

Over the year, education and health services added the most jobs in five areas: Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. Professional and business services gained the most jobs in four other areas: Atlanta, Dallas, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, and Philadelphia.

Information lost the most jobs over the year in three areas: Dallas, New York, and Washington. Atlanta had no annual job losses in any supersector.

Metropolitan area employment data for September 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, October 20, 2017, 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 July 15, 2015. 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.