Total nonfarm employment in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,543,000 in November 2014, up 33,600 or 0.7 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 2.0 percent. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that the Chicago metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment increases each month since October 2010. (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 Chicago metropolitan area is made up of three metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 85 percent of the area’s workforce, added 23,700 jobs from November a year ago. Employment in the Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division grew by 8,200 over the year, while employment in the Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division increased by 1,700.

Industry employment

The largest over-the-year employment increase in the Chicago metropolitan area in November 2014 was in professional and business services, up 15,700 or 2.0 percent. The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville division (up 12,200 or 1.8 percent) and the Lake County-Kenosha County division (up 3,000 or 4.3 percent) were responsible for most of this growth. Nationwide, employment in professional and business services rose 3.6 percent from the previous November. (See chart 2.)

Construction employment in the local area expanded by 6,800 or 4.3 percent from November a year ago. The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville division added 9,100 jobs, a 7.2-percent rate of job growth, while employment in the Gary division declined by 2,500, a 13.9-percent rate of job loss. Nationally, the rate of job growth in the construction supersector was 3.9 percent.

Leisure and hospitality employment increased by 4,700, a 1.1-percent gain from November 2013 to November 2014. The Gary division (up 2,100 or 6.6 percent) and the Lake County-Kenosha County division (up 2,100 or 5.8 percent) were responsible for most of this gain. Nationwide, employment in this supersector rose 2.6 percent from November a year ago.

Government added 4,600 jobs in the Chicago area from November a year ago, a 0.8-percent increase. The bulk of this gain occurred in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville division, up 2,800 or 0.6 percent over the year. The 0.8-percent rate of local area job growth exceeded the 0.4-percent increase nationwide.

Over the year, education and health services gained 4,000 jobs in the Chicago area, a 0.6-percent increase. Most of this gain took place in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville division where education and health services payrolls rose by 3,300 or 0.6 percent since November 2013. Nationally, this sector recorded a 2.0-percent rate of job growth.

Trade, transportation, and utilities lost 1,800 jobs in the local area in the year ended November 2014, the only supersector in the area to lose more than 1,000 jobs over the year. The employment decline was concentrated in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville division which lost 3,400 jobs (-0.4 percent). The local area’s rate of job decline in this supersector, at 0.2 percent, compared to the 2.0-percent rate of job gain nationwide

Twelve largest metropolitan areas

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in November 2014. Eleven of these areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with six exceeding the national average of 2.0 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, up 4.4 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, at 3.5 percent. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria had the slowest rate of job growth, 0.6 percent. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington had the only over-the-year decline, down 0.2 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The Houston area added the largest number of jobs, 125,300, since November 2013. Two other metropolitan areas gained more than 100,000 jobs–Dallas (111,500) and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (107,900). Detroit-Warren-Livonia recorded the smallest employment gain over the year, up 12,500 jobs, while Philadelphia lost 4,800 jobs.

Professional and business services led employment growth in 4 of the 12 metropolitan areas over the year: Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, and Washington. Education and health services also recorded the largest gains in four areas: Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Houston, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, and New York.

Over the year, manufacturing recorded the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in three areas—Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York. Boston, Houston, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach experienced no annual job losses for any supersector.

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 that 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 2007 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 the 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 that 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, 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.

Employment estimates.  Measures of sampling error are available for state CES data at the total nonfarm and supersector level and for metropolitan area CES data. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae.

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 dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

• The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• The Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Lake County in Illinois and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.
• The Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana.

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 on line 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.