Total nonfarm employment for the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,108,600 in September 2020, down 92,4000, or 7.7 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count decreased 6.4 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the Pittsburgh area has had consecutive over-the-year employment decreases since March 2020. (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.)

Industry employment

In the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, leisure and hospitality had the largest employment loss from September 2019 to September 2020, losing 37,000 jobs. The local 30.2-percent rate of decrease compared to the 21.7-percent national decrease for this industry. (See chart 2.)

Five other local supersectors had job losses of at least 5,000 since last September: education and health services (-14,500); trade, transportation, and utilities (-12,700); professional and business services (-6,900); and construction (-6,100); and manufacturing (-5,400).

Metropolitan area employment data for October 2020 are scheduled to be released on Friday, November 20, 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. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria.

For some employment series, the sample of establishments is very small or highly variable. In these cases, a model-based approach is used in estimation. These models use the direct sample estimates (described above), combined with forecasts of historical (benchmarked) data to decrease volatility in estimation. Two different models (Fay-Herriot Model and Small Domain Model) are used depending on the industry level being estimated. For more detailed information about each model, refer to the BLS Handbook of Methods.

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 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 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 the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.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 at the supersector level and for the private service-providing, goods-producing, total private and total nonfarm levels are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/sae/publications/benchmark-article/annual-benchmark-article.pdf.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established 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 Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania.

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. Detailed industry employment data for metropolitan areas from the CES program are available from the State and Area Employment databases at www.bls.gov/sae/data/.

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.

Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, United States and the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, not seasonally adjusted (in thousands)

Area	Back data	Sep 2019	Jul 2020	Aug 2020	Sep 2020	Sep 2019 to Sep 2020
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		151,556	139,076	(p)140,718	(p)141,855	(p)-9,701	(p)-6.4
Mining and logging		738	630	(p)620	(p)619	(p)-119	(p)-16.1
Construction		7,700	7,427	(p)7,461	(p)7,415	(p)-285	(p)-3.7
Manufacturing		12,880	12,175	(p)12,212	(p)12,224	(p)-656	(p)-5.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities		27,575	26,095	(p)26,403	(p)26,591	(p)-984	(p)-3.6
Information		2,860	2,583	(p)2,601	(p)2,607	(p)-253	(p)-8.8
Financial activities		8,775	8,681	(p)8,703	(p)8,682	(p)-93	(p)-1.1
Professional and business services		21,479	20,010	(p)20,220	(p)20,239	(p)-1,240	(p)-5.8
Education and health services		24,257	22,646	(p)22,835	(p)23,125	(p)-1,132	(p)-4.7
Leisure and hospitality		16,759	13,152	(p)13,231	(p)13,124	(p)-3,635	(p)-21.7
Other services		5,894	5,409	(p)5,445	(p)5,433	(p)-461	(p)-7.8
Government		22,639	20,268	(p)20,987	(p)21,796	(p)-843	(p)-3.7
Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		1,201.0	1,085.2	1,092.4	(p)1,108.6	(p)-92.4	(p)-7.7
Mining and logging		11.5	9.8	9.9	(p)9.9	(p)-1.6	(p)-13.9
Construction		67.4	61.9	61.4	(p)61.3	(p)-6.1	(p)-9.1
Manufacturing		86.7	82.9	82.0	(p)81.3	(p)-5.4	(p)-6.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities		206.1	187.9	189.5	(p)193.4	(p)-12.7	(p)-6.2
Information		19.6	17.0	17.0	(p)16.9	(p)-2.7	(p)-13.8
Financial activities		76.5	77.7	76.4	(p)76.3	(p)-0.2	(p)-0.3
Professional and business Services		184.9	174.7	176.3	(p)178.0	(p)-6.9	(p)-3.7
Education and health Services		260.2	236.8	239.2	(p)245.7	(p)-14.5	(p)-5.6
Leisure and hospitality		122.4	87.2	89.0	(p)85.4	(p)-37.0	(p)-30.2
Other services		49.3	43.5	44.4	(p)44.9	(p)-4.4	(p)-8.9
Government		116.4	105.8	107.3	(p)115.5	(p)-0.9	(p)-0.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary