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News Release Information

16-685-BOS
Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Boston Area Employment — January 2016

Total nonfarm employment in the Boston-Cambridge-Nashua metropolitan area stood at 2,616,400 in January 2016, up 37,200 from one year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that nonfarm employment rose 1.4 percent locally from January a year ago. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1; Technical note at end of release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

 

The Boston-Cambridge-Nashua area includes 10 metropolitan divisions – separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area. The Boston-Cambridge-Newton Metropolitan Division, which made up 67 percent of the workforce, gained 24,800 jobs from January 2015 to January 2016. Eight of the other nine divisions for which data are published also added jobs over the year.

Industry employment

Two supersectors in the Boston area accounted for over half of the local employment gain from January 2015 to January 2016. Education and health services, the largest industry in the Boston area, gained 16,900 jobs. The 3.1-percent rate of job growth in this supersector compared to the 3.0-percent gain nationwide. Mining, logging and construction added 9,200 jobs locally.

Professional and business services and financial activities had the next highest annual employment gains in the Boston area from January 2015, adding 6,500 and 5,100 jobs, respectively. The 1.5-percent rate of job growth in Boston’s professional and business services was lower than the 3.3-percent gain nationwide, while the 2.9-percent rate of local job growth in financial activities was higher than the 1.8-percent gain nationwide.

 

Local employment in Boston’s other services supersector rose by 2,700. The 2.8-percent local job gain outpaced the 1.0-percent national increase.

Two supersectors in the Boston area lost more than 1,000 jobs over the year—manufacturing (-1,900) and leisure and hospitality (-2,000).

Employment in the 12 Largest Metropolitan Areas

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in January 2016. All 12 areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with 9 exceeding the national average of 1.9 percent. The fastest rates of job growth were in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, at 3.6 percent each. The slowest rates of job growth were in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (0.6 percent), Boston-Cambridge-Nashua (1.4 percent) and Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (1.5 percent). (See chart 3 and table 2.)

 

The New York-Newark-Jersey City area added the largest number of jobs, 186,700. Employment in both Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington also increased by over 100,000. Houston experienced the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 16,400 jobs, followed by Boston, up 37,200 jobs.

Professional and business services registered the largest employment gains in 6 of the 12 metropolitan areas from January a year ago—Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington. Education and health services added the most jobs in three areas—Boston, Los Angeles, and New York.

Four areas experienced no annual job losses in any supersector—Atlanta, Miami, New York and Philadelphia. Manufacturing had the largest over-the-year losses in Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles.

Metropolitan area employment data for February 2016 were released on Friday, March 14, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Changes to Current Employment Statistics Data

Effective with the release of January 2016 data, nonfarm payroll employment estimates for states and metropolitan areas were revised to reflect 2015 benchmark levels. For more information on benchmark procedures, see www.bls.gov/sae/benchmark2016.pdf. 


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/.

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/.

 

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

Areas in the six New England states are defined as Metropolitan New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs), while areas in other states are county-based and identified as metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions.  However, for comparative purposes, the Boston NECTA and its divisions have been referred to as a metropolitan area and metropolitan divisions. 

 

The Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH Metropolitan New England City and Town Area (NECTA) includes 10 NECTA divisions--subdivisions of the larger NECTA which function as distinct social, economic, and cultural areas within the larger region. The NECTA divisions that compose the Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH NECTA include:  Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA, Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, MA, Framingham, MA, Haverhill- Newburyport-Amesbury town, MA-NH, Lawrence-Methuen town-Salem, MA-NH, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH, Lynn-Saugus-Marblehead, MA, Nashua, NH-MA, Peabody-Salem-Beverly, MA, Taunton- Middleborough-Norton, MA, and select cities and towns within.  

 

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, U.S. and Boston metropolitan area, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)
Area and IndustryJan 2015Nov 2015Dec 2015Jan 2016(P)Jan 2015 to Jan 2016(P)
Net ChangePercent Change

U.S.

 

  Total nonfarm

138,511144,122144,116141,1552,6441.9

    Mining and logging

877776765741-136-15.5

    Construction

5,9536,6546,5076,2102574.3

    Manufacturing

12,20312,31712,32312,247440.4

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

26,54427,59627,86727,0004561.7

    Information

2,7032,7672,7682,730271.0

    Financial activities

8,0088,1838,2018,1541461.8

    Professional and business services

19,03320,08120,07919,6696363.3

    Educational and health services

21,60122,56922,55922,2576563.0

    Leisure and hospitality

14,23415,03415,00014,6754413.1

    Other services

5,5325,6345,6415,588561.0

    Government

21,82322,51122,40621,884610.3

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH

 

  Total nonfarm

2579.22684.72681.12616.437.21.4

    Mining, logging, and construction

92.8110.6107.0102.09.29.9

    Manufacturing

191.1191.2191.1189.2-1.9-1.0

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

415.9425.2428.6416.40.50.1

    Information

76.376.877.377.10.81.0

    Financial activities

178.5183.7184.3183.65.12.9

    Professional and business services

439.2461.6458.3445.76.51.5

    Educational and health services

540.8565.6566.9557.716.93.1

    Leisure and hospitality

239.0251.5248.6237.0-2.0-0.8

    Other services

98.0101.4103.0100.72.72.8

    Government

307.6317.1316.0307.0-0.6-0.2

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA division

 

  Total nonfarm

1727.91797.91794.41752.724.81.4

    Mining, logging, and construction

57.367.565.563.15.810.1

    Manufacturing

81.382.082.181.0-0.3-0.4

    Trade transportation and utilities

243.9248.7250.2243.2-0.7-0.3

    Information

56.056.557.056.80.81.4

    Financial activities

147.4152.1152.5152.04.63.1

    Professional and business services

328.9345.0342.6334.15.21.6

    Educational and health services

388.3407.1407.3399.511.22.9

    Leisure and hospitality

164.3172.5170.3161.5-2.8-1.7

    Other services

64.967.969.167.42.53.9

    Government

195.6198.6197.8194.1-1.5-0.8

(P) Preliminary

 
Table 2. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, 12 largest metropolitan areas, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)
Area and IndustryJan 2015Nov 2015Dec 2015Jan 2016Jan 2015 to Jan 2016(p)
Net ChangePercent Change

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

 

  Total nonfarm

2,519.22,643.72,643.82,607.688.43.5

    Mining and logging

1.41.51.51.50.17.1

    Construction

102.9111.0111.7110.57.67.4

    Manufacturing

155.0160.8161.3160.45.43.5

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

569.5601.0604.5588.018.53.2

    Information

86.088.087.486.60.60.7

    Financial activities

159.6164.5163.4162.83.22.0

    Professional and business services

462.9489.5489.6486.123.25.0

    Education and health services

312.9323.3323.7318.55.61.8

    Leisure and hospitality

253.3277.2275.8271.017.77.0

    Other services

93.698.098.797.13.53.7

    Government

322.1328.9326.2325.13.00.9

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH

 

  Total nonfarm

2,579.22,684.72,681.12,616.437.21.4

    Mining, logging, and construction

92.8110.6107.0102.09.29.9

    Manufacturing

191.1191.2191.1189.2-1.9-1.0

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

415.9425.2428.6416.40.50.1

    Information

76.376.877.377.10.81.0

    Financial activities

178.5183.7184.3183.65.12.9

    Professional and business services

439.2461.6458.3445.76.51.5

    Education and health services

540.8565.6566.9557.716.93.1

    Leisure and hospitality

239.0251.5248.6237.0-2.0-0.8

    Other services

98.0101.4103.0100.72.72.8

    Government

307.6317.1316.0307.0-0.6-0.2

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI

 

  Total nonfarm

4,448.64,660.14,640.64,516.868.21.5

    Mining and logging

1.31.61.41.2-0.1-7.7

    Construction

141.9173.7165.7150.18.25.8

    Manufacturing

411.9413.6414.3411.1-0.8-0.2

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

910.6951.9958.1922.812.21.3

    Information

80.383.482.381.20.91.1

    Financial activities

289.1295.1295.0290.51.40.5

    Professional and business services

778.6814.0802.8776.5-2.1-0.3

    Education and health services

688.3716.4711.3705.817.52.5

    Leisure and hospitality

418.2451.9452.2437.719.54.7

    Other services

191.0196.3195.2192.21.20.6

    Government

537.4562.2562.3547.710.31.9

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

 

  Total nonfarm

3,309.63,475.33,483.63,423.3113.73.4

    Mining, logging, and construction

197.0201.7200.8196.6-0.4-0.2

    Manufacturing

263.2262.3260.4259.0-4.2-1.6

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

704.4749.7758.9740.836.45.2

    Information

79.580.980.679.80.30.4

    Financial activities

269.9281.4283.0282.913.04.8

    Professional and business services

545.3573.4575.6558.012.72.3

    Education and health services

403.5428.1423.5423.119.64.9

    Leisure and hospitality

327.5360.5361.4354.326.88.2

    Other services

115.9117.8118.3115.5-0.4-0.3

    Government

403.4419.5421.1413.39.92.5

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

 

  Total nonfarm

2,954.13,015.43,021.32,970.516.40.6

    Mining and logging

110.595.194.392.4-18.1-16.4

    Construction

208.8225.8224.4220.411.65.6

    Manufacturing

259.4237.8238.7236.9-22.5-8.7

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

606.3619.5627.5610.44.10.7

    Information

32.031.531.531.2-0.8-2.5

    Financial activities

149.1153.3152.1152.13.02.0

    Professional and business services

467.9469.3468.6459.7-8.2-1.8

    Education and health services

358.0376.1377.5376.018.05.0

    Leisure and hospitality

282.8307.7309.0304.021.27.5

    Other services

104.3107.1106.1105.71.41.3

    Government

375.0392.2391.6381.76.71.8

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

 

  Total nonfarm

5,700.95,928.55,952.55,834.3133.42.3

    Mining and logging

4.94.64.34.2-0.7-14.3

    Construction

205.7223.8223.7222.416.78.1

    Manufacturing

517.5514.3514.5509.3-8.2-1.6

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

1,068.11,108.21,118.41,086.418.31.7

    Information

218.8231.3233.1223.74.92.2

    Financial activities

324.7333.6335.8331.06.31.9

    Professional and business services

867.3903.5906.9881.714.41.7

    Education and health services

917.5966.7969.6956.639.14.3

    Leisure and hospitality

661.5701.2706.4692.531.04.7

    Other services

195.9202.5200.5196.80.90.5

    Government

719.0738.8739.3729.710.71.5

Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL

 

  Total nonfarm

2,472.02,564.12,572.72,543.371.32.9

    Mining and logging

0.60.60.60.60.00.0

    Construction

105.2118.1119.1116.211.010.5

    Manufacturing

82.585.385.085.02.53.0

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

581.1598.0605.3592.311.21.9

    Information

47.648.748.548.00.40.8

    Financial activities

171.5178.0177.6177.25.73.3

    Professional and business services

395.1418.7417.3409.814.73.7

    Education and health services

360.6373.3376.5372.912.33.4

    Leisure and hospitality

305.3311.7313.5314.08.72.8

    Other services

119.5123.2122.7121.92.42.0

    Government

303.0308.5306.6305.42.40.8

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

 

  Total nonfarm

9,072.89,522.49,537.19,259.5186.72.1

    Mining, logging, and construction

338.2390.5382.2358.119.95.9

    Manufacturing

363.7370.7370.8367.74.01.1

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

1,704.01,760.51,778.21,715.511.50.7

    Information

280.9285.3289.1283.12.20.8

    Financial activities

750.4770.3772.2761.010.61.4

    Professional and business services

1,426.31,516.61,516.11,466.840.52.8

    Education and health services

1,736.21,823.71,828.61,793.557.33.3

    Leisure and hospitality

804.5866.7859.0821.617.12.1

    Other services

402.1412.9417.5410.38.22.0

    Government

1,266.51,325.21,323.41,281.915.41.2

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

 

  Total nonfarm

2,754.52,875.42,879.22,812.758.22.1

    Mining, logging, and construction

99.1114.4112.6107.28.18.2

    Manufacturing

180.4181.2182.0181.10.70.4

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

511.1531.6539.6517.86.71.3

    Information

45.946.546.946.40.51.1

    Financial activities

205.3209.2210.4209.03.71.8

    Professional and business services

435.4460.2459.3451.315.93.7

    Education and health services

593.1619.4616.8607.514.42.4

    Leisure and hospitality

235.1249.7248.5239.44.31.8

    Other services

115.4118.3118.7116.81.41.2

    Government

333.7344.9344.4336.22.50.7

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

 

  Total nonfarm

1,879.71,979.01,984.71,946.867.13.6

    Mining and logging

3.43.33.33.3-0.1-2.9

    Construction

94.8102.5101.2100.86.06.3

    Manufacturing

117.8121.4121.2120.42.62.2

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

369.9395.4398.7383.813.93.8

    Information

35.437.638.338.12.77.6

    Financial activities

163.1169.6171.8171.78.65.3

    Professional and business services

316.4336.8342.2332.516.15.1

    Education and health services

274.6290.7291.9289.014.45.2

    Leisure and hospitality

204.8211.7210.9210.86.02.9

    Other services

64.465.965.765.20.81.2

    Government

235.1244.1239.5231.2-3.9-1.7

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

 

  Total nonfarm

2,196.22,304.12,313.12,275.078.83.6

    Mining and logging

1.01.01.00.9-0.1-10.0

    Construction

102.9114.4114.7113.410.510.2

    Manufacturing

124.2127.8128.4125.81.61.3

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

361.4380.5386.7372.811.43.2

    Information

81.386.586.485.23.94.8

    Financial activities

127.3129.5129.8128.91.61.3

    Professional and business services

446.2473.1475.0470.123.95.4

    Education and health services

320.1335.3335.3334.013.94.3

    Leisure and hospitality

244.4258.5259.9252.98.53.5

    Other services

81.683.683.281.2-0.4-0.5

    Government

305.8313.9312.7309.84.01.3

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

 

  Total nonfarm

3,100.93,219.53,222.23,171.570.62.3

    Mining, logging, and construction

142.1155.5153.8150.07.95.6

    Manufacturing

51.554.153.551.90.40.8

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

397.9412.6420.0403.75.81.5

    Information

77.776.375.674.9-2.8-3.6

    Financial activities

152.1154.6155.2154.62.51.6

    Professional and business services

705.1732.6729.9723.218.12.6

    Education and health services

409.6419.4419.9419.19.52.3

    Leisure and hospitality

290.4311.5312.1306.916.55.7

    Other services

192.7199.5200.0197.04.32.2

    Government

681.8703.4702.2690.28.41.2

(P) Preliminary

 

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, April 06, 2016