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News Release Information

20-627-CHI
Friday, May 01, 2020

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Detroit Area Employment — March 2020

Total nonfarm employment for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,019,800 in March 2020, down 1,800, or 0.1 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.0 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that this was the third time since October 2019 that the Detroit metropolitan area had an over-the-year employment decrease. (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 Detroit metropolitan area is made up of two metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills division, which accounted for 62 percent of the metropolitan area's employment, lost 1,600 jobs from March a year ago, a decline of 0.1 percent. The Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia Metropolitan Division, the area’s other employment center, experienced little employment change from March 2019 to March 2020.

Industry employment

In the Detroit metropolitan area, leisure and hospitality lost the largest number of jobs from March 2019 to March 2020, down 8,500. Local employment in this industry supersector declined 4.3 percent over the year; nationally, employment fell 0.6 percent in this sector. (See chart 2.)

Manufacturing payrolls shed 5,200 jobs over the year in the Detroit area, a 2.0-percent decline. Nationwide, manufacturing employment edged up 0.1 percent.

Professional and business services and other services each lost 1,300 jobs over the year. Employment in professional and business services fell 0.3 percent compared to a 1.5-percent national increase. Employment in the other services sector was down 1.7 percent from a year ago; nationally, employment in this sector rose 0.8 percent.

In the Detroit metropolitan area, trade, transportation, and utilities added the largest number of jobs from March 2019 to March 2020, up 4,500. Employment in the Detroit division, up 5,500 from the previous March, accounted for all the gain in this supersector. Local area employment in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector increased 1.2 percent over the year; nationally, employment in this sector rose 0.4 percent.

Education and health services had the second largest employment increase in the Detroit area, up 3,200 jobs over the year. The 1.0-percent rate of job growth compared to the national increase of 2.2 percent. The local area’s employment gain was concentrated in the Warren division, where employment grew by 2,800, or 1.5 percent, over the year.

Two other local supersectors each gained 2,000 or more jobs: government and financial activities. The government supersector added 2,700 jobs, a 1.4-percent increase in the local area from March 2019 to March 2020. Nationally, employment in the government sector grew 0.9 percent over the year. Detroit’s financial activities supersector added 2,000 jobs, a 1.7-percent increase. Nationally, employment in the financial activities sector rose 1.7 percent over the year.

Metropolitan area employment data for April are scheduled to be released on Friday, May 22, 2020.


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 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 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 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.

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 down to 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 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.

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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

The Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Division includes Wayne County in Michigan.

The Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metropolitan Division includes Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, and St. Clair Counties in Michigan.

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 CES program are also available in the news release State Employment and Unemployment and from the BLS website 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.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, the United States and the Detroit metropolitan area and its components, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)
Area and IndustryMar
2019
Jan
2020
Feb
2020
Mar
2020(p)
Mar 2019 to
Mar 2020(p)
Net
change
Percent
change

United States

Total nonfarm

149,359150,153151,055150,8041,4451.0

Mining and logging

731701700697-34-4.7

Construction

7,1707,2407,2717,3311612.2

Manufacturing

12,77412,76612,79612,78390.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

27,35827,73427,47927,4601020.4

Information

2,8382,8572,8812,885471.7

Financial activities

8,6588,7628,8048,8031451.7

Professional and business services

20,90821,13921,25021,2293211.5

Education and health services

24,11324,40324,71624,6455322.2

Leisure and hospitality

16,09016,09216,24515,988-102-0.6

Other services

5,8335,8625,8905,882490.8

Government

22,88622,59723,02323,1012150.9

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area

Total nonfarm

2,021.62,022.62,028.72,019.8-1.8-0.1

Mining, logging, and construction

68.371.272.271.33.04.4

Manufacturing

260.7257.6255.8255.5-5.2-2.0

Trade, transportation, and utilities

373.9382.5380.4378.44.51.2

Information

27.026.126.126.1-0.9-3.3

Financial activities

118.9120.7120.2120.92.01.7

Professional and business services

391.9388.2391.5390.6-1.3-0.3

Education and health services

317.4321.1324.6320.63.21.0

Leisure and hospitality

197.1192.3192.4188.6-8.5-4.3

Other services

75.073.473.773.7-1.3-1.7

Government

191.4189.5191.8194.12.71.4

Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Division

Total nonfarm

766.9770.4769.8766.7-0.20.0

Mining, logging, and construction

20.722.021.621.50.83.9

Manufacturing

96.596.895.494.5-2.0-2.1

Trade, transportation, and utilities

148.2154.8154.0153.75.53.7

Information

6.86.56.66.6-0.2-2.9

Financial activities

39.240.740.840.61.43.6

Professional and business services

127.0123.9123.7124.3-2.7-2.1

Education and health services

132.0132.2133.7132.40.40.3

Leisure and hospitality

78.776.576.674.8-3.9-5.0

Other services

28.327.527.727.8-0.5-1.8

Government

89.589.589.790.51.01.1

Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metropolitan Division

Total nonfarm

1,254.71,252.21,258.91,253.1-1.6-0.1

Mining, logging, and construction

47.649.250.649.82.24.6

Manufacturing

164.2160.8160.4161.0-3.2-1.9

Trade, transportation, and utilities

225.7227.7226.4224.7-1.0-0.4

Information

20.219.619.519.5-0.7-3.5

Financial activities

79.780.079.480.30.60.8

Professional and business services

264.9264.3267.8266.31.40.5

Education and health services

185.4188.9190.9188.22.81.5

Leisure and hospitality

118.4115.8115.8113.8-4.6-3.9

Other services

46.745.946.045.9-0.8-1.7

Government

101.9100.0102.1103.61.71.7

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, May 01, 2020