Total nonfarm employment for the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 4,672,700 in May 2016, up 61,500, or 1.3 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. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations 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 four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights Metropolitan Division, which accounted for 80 percent of the area’s workforce, added 45,900 jobs from May a year ago. Employment in the Lake County-Kenosha County, Ill.-Wis. Metropolitan Division increased by 9,000, while employment in the Gary, Ind. Metropolitan Division and the Elgin, Ill. Metropolitan Division grew by 3,600 and 3,000, respectively, over the year.

Industry employment

In the Chicago metropolitan area, the leisure and hospitality industry had the largest employment gain from May 2015 to May 2016, up 16,200 or 3.5 percent. The Chicago division saw the largest increase for this industry, adding 13,900 jobs. Nationwide, employment in leisure and hospitality rose 2.5 percent from the previous May. (See chart 2.)

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the largest supersector in the Chicago area, added 12,800 jobs, a 1.4-percent gain from May a year ago. This supersector has had over-the-year employment increases each month since October 2010. From May 2015 to May 2016, the Chicago division added 5,400 jobs and the Lake division added 5,200 jobs. Nationally, employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector increased 1.6 percent from May 2015.

Locally, the professional and business services supersector gained 12,700 jobs since last May. The Chicago area’s 1.6-percent growth in professional and business services employment was less than the nationwide increase of 2.7 percent. Local employment growth was concentrated in the Chicago division (+11,400).

One other supersector gained more than 8,000 jobs over the year in the local area. Education and health services added 8,300 jobs locally, up 1.2 percent from the previous May. Nationwide, education and health services employment grew by 3.1 percent.

Manufacturing lost 1,200 jobs, down 0.3 percent, in the local area from May 2015 to May 2016. The job losses were concentrated in the Chicago division (-1,900). Nationwide, manufacturing employment declined 0.4 percent during the same period. No other local supersector lost more than 1,000 jobs from May a year ago.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Chicago was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in May 2016. (See chart 3 and table 2.) All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with 8 exceeding the national average of 1.7 percent. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area had the fastest rate of job growth, at 3.7 percent, followed by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale at 3.1 percent. The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area had the slowest rate of job growth, up 0.2 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area added the largest number of jobs, 154,500 since May 2015. Employment in New York-Newark-Jersey City and Dallas also increased by over 100,000 each. Houston had the smallest gain, adding just 5,100 jobs over the 12-month period.

Education and health services had the most job growth in 4 of the 12 metropolitan areas from last May—Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York. Professional and business services added the greatest number of jobs in Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria; and trade, transportation, and utilities added the most in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Dallas, and Phoenix. These two supersectors added an equal number of jobs in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach.

Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year loss of jobs in five areas—Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. Information shed the largest number of jobs in Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Metropolitan area employment data for June 2016 are scheduled to be released on Friday, July 22, 2016.

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 28, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, 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-Naperville-Arlington Heights, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois.
• The Elgin, Ill. Metropolitan Division (MD) includes DeKalb and Kane Counties.
• 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 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.