Total nonfarm employment for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,841,200 in September 2020, down 200,400, or 9.8 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) During the same period, the national job count decreased by 6.4 percent. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that this was the seventh consecutive month of over-the-year employment declines in the Detroit metropolitan area. (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 115,000 jobs from September a year ago, a decline of 9.1 percent. The Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia Metropolitan Division, with the remaining 37 percent of the area’s employment, lost 85,400 jobs, down 11.0 percent, from September 2019 to September 2020.

Industry employment

In the Detroit metropolitan area, leisure and hospitality lost the largest number of jobs from September 2019 to September 2020, down 60,100. Local employment in this industry supersector declined 29.8 percent over the year; nationally, employment fell 21.7 percent in this sector. (See chart 2.)

Education and health services lost 37,900 jobs over the year in the Detroit area, a 12.0-percent decline. Nationwide, education and health services employment declined 4.7 percent.

Three other local supersectors each lost more than 20,000 jobs from September a year ago: professional and business services (-27,000); manufacturing (-25,300); and trade, transportation, and utilities (-23,400). Employment in Detroit’s professional and business services sector fell 6.9 percent compared to a 5.8-percent national decrease. Manufacturing employment was down 9.8 percent from a year ago; nationally, employment in this sector declined 5.1 percent. Employment in the local trade, transportation, and utilities sector was down 6.2 percent from a year ago; nationally, employment in this sector decreased 3.6 percent.

Metropolitan area employment data for October are scheduled to be released on Friday, November 20, 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	Sep 2019	Jul 2020	Aug 2020	Sep 2020(p)	Sep 2019 to Sep 2020(p)
					Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm	151,556	139,076	140,718	141,855	-9,701	-6.4
Mining and logging	738	630	620	619	-119	-16.1
Construction	7,700	7,427	7,461	7,415	-285	-3.7
Manufacturing	12,880	12,175	12,212	12,224	-656	-5.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	27,575	26,095	26,403	26,591	-984	-3.6
Information	2,860	2,583	2,601	2,607	-253	-8.8
Financial activities	8,775	8,681	8,703	8,682	-93	-1.1
Professional and business services	21,479	20,010	20,220	20,239	-1,240	-5.8
Education and health services	24,257	22,646	22,835	23,125	-1,132	-4.7
Leisure and hospitality	16,759	13,152	13,231	13,124	-3,635	-21.7
Other services	5,894	5,409	5,445	5,433	-461	-7.8
Government	22,639	20,268	20,987	21,796	-843	-3.7
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total nonfarm	2,041.6	1,799.9	1,827.1	1,841.2	-200.4	-9.8
Mining, logging, and construction	80.7	74.9	76.3	76.1	-4.6	-5.7
Manufacturing	257.6	228.5	231.1	232.3	-25.3	-9.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	379.1	352.3	355.9	355.7	-23.4	-6.2
Information	26.4	24.7	24.8	25.1	-1.3	-4.9
Financial activities	121.8	117.9	118.2	116.6	-5.2	-4.3
Professional and business services	391.7	355.5	360.0	364.7	-27.0	-6.9
Education and health services	316.9	274.3	278.6	279.0	-37.9	-12.0
Leisure and hospitality	201.4	137.8	142.3	141.3	-60.1	-29.8
Other services	74.9	70.1	70.2	70.4	-4.5	-6.0
Government	191.1	163.9	169.7	180.0	-11.1	-5.8
Detroit-Dearborn-Livonia, MI Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	775.0	670.8	679.6	689.6	-85.4	-11.0
Mining, logging, and construction	23.9	21.2	21.7	21.7	-2.2	-9.2
Manufacturing	95.8	87.9	89.6	89.4	-6.4	-6.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	153.1	142.4	144.0	144.7	-8.4	-5.5
Information	6.6	6.2	6.1	6.2	-0.4	-6.1
Financial activities	40.5	38.1	37.9	37.7	-2.8	-6.9
Professional and business services	126.9	111.0	111.4	112.3	-14.6	-11.5
Education and health services	131.0	110.9	112.2	113.2	-17.8	-13.6
Leisure and hospitality	79.3	49.4	51.0	52.9	-26.4	-33.3
Other services	28.1	26.4	26.3	26.4	-1.7	-6.0
Government	89.8	77.3	79.4	85.1	-4.7	-5.2
Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI Metropolitan Division
Total nonfarm	1,266.6	1,129.1	1,147.5	1,151.6	-115.0	-9.1
Mining, logging, and construction	56.8	53.7	54.6	54.4	-2.4	-4.2
Manufacturing	161.8	140.6	141.5	142.9	-18.9	-11.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	226.0	209.9	211.9	211.0	-15.0	-6.6
Information	19.8	18.5	18.7	18.9	-0.9	-4.5
Financial activities	81.3	79.8	80.3	78.9	-2.4	-3.0
Professional and business services	264.8	244.5	248.6	252.4	-12.4	-4.7
Education and health services	185.9	163.4	166.4	165.8	-20.1	-10.8
Leisure and hospitality	122.1	88.4	91.3	88.4	-33.7	-27.6
Other services	46.8	43.7	43.9	44.0	-2.8	-6.0
Government	101.3	86.6	90.3	94.9	-6.4	-6.3
Footnotes (p) Preliminary