Total nonfarm employment for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,796,500 in June 2020, down 267,200, or 12.9 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count decreased by 8.7 percent. Acting Regional Commissioner Julie Wilson noted that since March 2020, the Detroit metropolitan area has had over-the-year employment decreases. (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 63 percent of the metropolitan area's employment, lost 158,400 jobs from June a year ago, a decline of 12.3 percent. The Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia Metropolitan Division, with the remaining 37 percent of the area’s employment, lost 108,800 jobs, down 14.0 percent, from June 2019 to June 2020.

Industry employment

In the Detroit metropolitan area, leisure and hospitality lost the largest number of jobs from June 2019 to June 2020, down 84,100. Local employment in this industry supersector declined 40.2 percent over the year; nationally, employment fell 27.1 percent in this sector. (See chart 2.)

Professional and business services employment lost 41,000 jobs over the year in the Detroit area, a 10.3-percent decline. Nationwide, professional and business services employment declined 7.4 percent.

Three other local supersectors each lost more than 30,000 jobs from June a year ago: education and health services (-38,600); trade, transportation, and utilities (-34,900); and manufacturing (-30,100). Employment in Detroit’s education and health services sector fell 12.1 percent compared to a 5.7-percent national decrease. Employment in the local trade, transportation, and utilities sector was down 9.2 percent from a year ago; nationally, employment in this sector declined 7.0 percent. Employment in the local manufacturing sector was down 11.6 percent from a year ago; nationally, employment in this sector decreased 5.8 percent.

Metropolitan area employment data for July are scheduled to be released on Friday, August 21, 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.

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. 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.

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 Industry	Jun 2019	Apr 2020	May 2020	Jun 2020(p)	Jun 2019 to Jun 2020(p)
					Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm	151,739	130,317	133,410	138,513	-13,226	-8.7
Mining and logging	746	643	632	628	-118	-15.8
Construction	7,699	6,465	7,073	7,359	-340	-4.4
Manufacturing	12,922	11,432	11,708	12,169	-753	-5.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	27,698	24,253	24,740	25,753	-1,945	-7.0
Information	2,874	2,607	2,561	2,586	-288	-10.0
Financial activities	8,783	8,523	8,552	8,650	-133	-1.5
Professional and business services	21,428	19,215	19,398	19,836	-1,592	-7.4
Education and health services	23,939	21,972	22,243	22,569	-1,370	-5.7
Leisure and hospitality	17,219	8,485	10,107	12,556	-4,663	-27.1
Other services	5,970	4,564	4,852	5,254	-716	-12.0
Government	22,461	22,158	21,544	21,153	-1,308	-5.8
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm	2,063.7	1,542.1	1,635.9	1,796.5	-267.2	-12.9
Mining, logging, and construction	79.6	34.1	59.5	73.6	-6.0	-7.5
Manufacturing	260.6	172.4	184.2	230.5	-30.1	-11.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities	380.7	301.1	324.4	345.8	-34.9	-9.2
Information	27.1	25.4	24.9	24.9	-2.2	-8.1
Financial activities	122.2	112.1	115.3	117.7	-4.5	-3.7
Professional and business services	396.4	322.5	338.1	355.4	-41.0	-10.3
Education and health services	318.7	257.2	261.2	280.1	-38.6	-12.1
Leisure and hospitality	209.1	81.6	94.0	125.0	-84.1	-40.2
Other services	76.5	50.8	55.3	65.1	-11.4	-14.9
Government	192.8	184.9	179.0	178.4	-14.4	-7.5
Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	777.0	593.7	610.9	668.2	-108.8	-14.0
Mining, logging, and construction	23.2	10.9	17.0	21.1	-2.1	-9.1
Manufacturing	96.3	61.1	63.4	87.3	-9.0	-9.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	151.6	124.4	131.1	140.2	-11.4	-7.5
Information	6.7	6.4	6.3	6.3	-0.4	-6.0
Financial activities	40.3	35.6	37.1	38.0	-2.3	-5.7
Professional and business services	128.2	103.8	106.8	110.2	-18.0	-14.0
Education and health services	131.1	111.9	107.9	112.7	-18.4	-14.0
Leisure and hospitality	81.3	31.8	35.1	44.6	-36.7	-45.1
Other services	28.7	20.5	21.9	24.7	-4.0	-13.9
Government	89.6	87.3	84.3	83.1	-6.5	-7.3
Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	1,286.7	948.4	1,025.0	1,128.3	-158.4	-12.3
Mining, logging, and construction	56.4	23.2	42.5	52.5	-3.9	-6.9
Manufacturing	164.3	111.3	120.8	143.2	-21.1	-12.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	229.1	176.7	193.3	205.6	-23.5	-10.3
Information	20.4	19.0	18.6	18.6	-1.8	-8.8
Financial activities	81.9	76.5	78.2	79.7	-2.2	-2.7
Professional and business services	268.2	218.7	231.3	245.2	-23.0	-8.6
Education and health services	187.6	145.3	153.3	167.4	-20.2	-10.8
Leisure and hospitality	127.8	49.8	58.9	80.4	-47.4	-37.1
Other services	47.8	30.3	33.4	40.4	-7.4	-15.5
Government	103.2	97.6	94.7	95.3	-7.9	-7.7
Footnotes (p) Preliminary