Total nonfarm employment for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, metropolitan area increased by 558,300 over the year in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that the local rate of job growth, 6.5 percent, compared to 5.3 percent rate nationwide. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change for total nonfarm employment in the New York metropolitan area, July 2018–July 2021

Period	United States	New York
Jul 2018	1.6	1.2
Aug 2018	1.7	1.1
Sep 2018	1.6	1.1
Oct 2018	1.6	1.4
Nov 2018	1.5	1.5
Dec 2018	1.6	1.3
Jan 2019	1.7	1.7
Feb 2019	1.4	1.4
Mar 2019	1.4	1.5
Apr 2019	1.4	1.6
May 2019	1.2	1.3
Jun 2019	1.2	1.2
Jul 2019	1.3	1.3
Aug 2019	1.2	1.4
Sep 2019	1.3	1.4
Oct 2019	1.3	0.9
Nov 2019	1.4	1.1
Dec 2019	1.3	0.9
Jan 2020	1.5	1.4
Feb 2020	1.5	1.2
Mar 2020	0.4	-0.2
Apr 2020	-13.4	-19.1
May 2020	-11.7	-17.8
Jun 2020	-8.7	-16.2
Jul 2020	-7.7	-14.2
Aug 2020	-6.9	-12.4
Sep 2020	-6.3	-10.8
Oct 2020	-5.9	-10.6
Nov 2020	-5.9	-10.9
Dec 2020	-6.0	-11.3
Jan 2021	-6.0	-11.3
Feb 2021	-5.9	-11.1
Mar 2021	-4.4	-9.5
Apr 2021	10.9	11.9
May 2021	8.9	10.5
Jun 2021	5.8	8.8
Jul 2021	5.3	6.5

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. Employment grew over the year in 3 of the 4 divisions. New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ, with 72 percent of the area’s total nonfarm employment, gained 422,800 jobs over the year. Newark, NJ-PA, which accounted for 13 percent of the area’s employment, added 70,000 jobs from July 2020 to July 2021. Nassau County-Suffolk County, NY, with 14 percent of the area’s employment, gained 60,800 jobs over the same time period. Employment in Dutchess County-Putnam County, NY, with 1 percent of the area’s jobs, was little changed over the year.

Industry employment

In New York-Newark-Jersey City-NY-NJ-PA, leisure and hospitality had the largest gain (+200,800) among local private-industry supersectors, with all four divisions recording increases. (See chart 2.) The 36.7-percent increase in the metropolitan area’s leisure and hospitality supersector compared to the 18.5-percent gain on the national level.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year net change for industry supersector employment in the New York metropolitan area, July 2021

Industry	Net change (in thousands)
Leisure and hospitality*	200.8
Education and health services*	125.7
Professional and business services*	81.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities*	81.5
Other services*	30.2
Information*	20.6
Manufacturing*	12.8
Mining, logging, and construction	-7.2
Financial activities	-7.9
Note: An asterisk indicates statistical significance at the 90-percent confidence level. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Education and health services gained 125,700 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area. Within this supersector, 68 percent of the employment gain was concentrated in the health care and social assistance sector (+85,900). The metropolitan area’s 6.9-percent increase for education and health services compared to a 3.2-percent increase for the nation.

Employment in professional and business services was up 81,700 over the year in the metropolitan area. Over-the-year increases were reported in all divisions except Dutchess County-Putman County, NY. The metropolitan area had a 5.7-percent gain compared to a 6.2-percent increase for the nation.

Trade, transportation, and utilities gained 81,500 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area. With the exception of Dutchess County-Putman County, NY, over-the-year increases were reported in all divisions. Within this supersector, 69 percent of the employment gain was concentrated in retail trade (+56,300).

Three additional supersectors had over-the-year gains: other services (+30,200), information (+20,600), and manufacturing (+12,800).

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in July 2021. All 12 areas gained jobs over the year. The New York area had the largest increase (+558,300). San Francisco-Hayward-Oakland, CA, added the smallest number of jobs (+105,700) among the largest areas. (See table 2 and chart 3.)

Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH, had a 7.8-percent rate of job growth, followed by Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ (+7.6 percent). The rates of job gains in the remaining 10 areas ranged from 6.6 percent in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, to 4.2 percent in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI.

  

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Chart 3. Over-the-year net change in total nonfarm employment for the 12 largest metropolitan areas, July 2021 (in thousands)

Area	Net change (in thousands)
New York*	558.3
Los Angeles*	359.3
Dallas*	211.1
Boston*	194.1
Chicago*	181.1
Atlanta*	165.8
Phoenix*	154.3
Philadelphia*	138.9
Houston*	136.4
Washington*	135.5
Miami*	122.8
San Francisco*	105.7
Note: An asterisk indicates statistical significance at the 90-percent confidence level. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for August 2021 is scheduled to be released on September 29, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Special technical note: This technical note describes the procedures regularly used on a monthly basis to develop estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the procedures described in this technical note have been modified. The modifications are briefly described in the box note of this news release. More information on the changes to the CES business birth-death model is available at www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesbd.htm.

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the CES program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the U.S. 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 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 at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/ces-20110307.pdf.

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 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. Changes in metropolitan area nonfarm payroll employment are cited in the analysis of this release only if they have been determined to be statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level. Measures of sampling error for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.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 at the supersector level and for the private service-providing, goods-producing, total private and total nonfarm levels are available on the BLS website at https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/bmrk_article.htm.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this news release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. The 12 metropolitan areas discussed in this release are the metropolitan areas with the largest population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Westchester Counties in New York; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

• The Dutchess County-Putnam County, NY Metropolitan Division includes Dutchess and Putnam Counties in New York.
• The Nassau County-Suffolk County, NY Metropolitan Division includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties in New York.
• The New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ Metropolitan Division includes New York City (Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond Counties), and Orange, Rockland, and Westchester Counties in New York; and Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Passaic Counties in New Jersey.
• The Newark, NJ-PA Metropolitan Division includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

Additional information

Employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.