Total nonfarm employment for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,569,400 in May 2020, down 416,300, or 13.9 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count decreased 11.8 percent. (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.) Regional Commissioner Sheila Watkins noted that this was the second consecutive month of over-the-year employment declines in the Philadelphia area.

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. All of the four divisions reported employment decreases over the year. The Montgomery County-Bucks County-Chester County Metropolitan Division, with 36 percent of the area’s employment, lost 167,700 jobs since last May. The Philadelphia Metropolitan Division, with 34 percent of the area’s employment, lost 116,800 jobs, and the Camden Metropolitan Division, with 18 percent of the area’s employment, had a decrease of 79,900 jobs over the year. The Wilmington Metropolitan Division, with the remaining 12 percent, lost 51,900 jobs.

Industry employment

In the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area, the leisure and hospitality industry had the largest employment decline from May 2019 to May 2020, losing 151,800 jobs. The Philadelphia area’s 53.3-percent decrease in leisure and hospitality employment compared to the sector’s nationwide decrease of 40.6 percent.(See chart 2.) The Montgomery County division lost 51,800 jobs and the Philadelphia division lost 50,500 jobs.

Education and health services (-67,300, -10.1 percent), trade, transportation, and utilities (-63,700, -12.1 percent), and other services (-41,700, -33.8 percent) had the next largest over-the-year local job decreases. Nationally, employment was down 7.6 percent in education and health services, 10.0 percent in trade, transportation, and utilities, and 17.6 percent in other services.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in May 2020. All 12 areas had over-the-year job losses during the period, with the rates of job loss in 6 areas exceeding the national decrease of 11.8 percent. New York-Newark-Jersey City had the highest rate of job loss (-18.1 percent), followed by Boston-Cambridge-Nashua (-16.2 percent). Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale had the smallest decline (-5.1 percent). (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York lost the largest number of jobs over the year (-1,811,400), followed by Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (-859,000). The smallest employment loss occurred in Phoenix (-111,000). Annual losses in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 567,000 in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin to 226,800 in Dallas.

Over the year, leisure and hospitality lost the most jobs in all 12 metropolitan areas. New York had the largest loss of jobs for this sector (-589,100), followed by Los Angeles (-342,700). Phoenix had the smallest job loss for the leisure and hospitality sector (-62,500), followed by Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (-86,600). The remaining eight areas had job losses of over 100,000 for this industry sector.

Dallas was the only area to have job gains over 1,000 in any supersector from May 2019 to May 2020, with an increase of 9,000 jobs in financial activities.

Metropolitan area employment data for June 2020 are scheduled to be released on Friday, July 17, 2020, 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 2017 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. The estimates presented in this 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.

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. 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 down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this news release. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.pdf.

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 April 10, 2018. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-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, NJ 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, DE-MD-NJ 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.