Total nonfarm employment for the New York-Newark-Jersey City-N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 9,736,500 in July 2017, up 176,400, or 1.8 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.5 percent. Martin Kohli, the Bureau’s chief regional economist, noted that the New York area has had annual job gains each month since August 2010. (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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Statistical Area is made up of four metropolitan divisions—separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area. With 72 percent of the area’s employment, the New York-Jersey City-White Plains Metropolitan Division gained 157,100 jobs since last July. The Nassau County-Suffolk County Metropolitan Division, with 14 percent of local employment, added 16,700 jobs. In the Newark Metropolitan Division, with 12 percent of the area’s jobs, employment was little changed over the year. The Dutchess County-Putnam County Metropolitan Division, with the remaining share of local employment, gained 1,900 jobs over the year.

Industry employment

From July 2016 to July 2017, the education and health services supersector added 76,600 jobs in the New York metropolitan area, the largest annual gain since the series began in 1990. The New York-Jersey City-White Plains division had the bulk of the growth, by adding almost 40,000 jobs in health care and social assistance and over 27,000 jobs in educational services. The New York area’s 4.2-percent growth in education and health services employment exceeded the nationwide increase of 2.3 percent. (See chart 2.)

Two other supersectors in the New York area added more than 35,000 jobs since last July. Professional and business services gained 39,100 jobs locally, an increase of 2.5 percent, which compared to the 2.9-percent national rate. Leisure and hospitality added 38,100 jobs, a 4.0-percent increase, faster than the 2.1-percent rate of job growth for the nation.

One other supersector in the New York area added at least 10,000 jobs over the year—financial activities (10,200). Most of the expansion in this supersector occurred in the New York-Jersey City-White Plains division, where the real estate, rental, and leasing sector added over 6,000 jobs in New York City. The local rate of job growth in financial activities (+1.3 percent) lagged that of the nation (+1.8 percent).

Two supersectors lost jobs locally over the year—information (-9,200) and manufacturing (-3,000). Employment in information shrank by 3.1 percent locally compared to a 1.7-percent decline nationwide. Manufacturing employment fell by 0.8 percent in the New York area, in contrast to a national job gain of 0.5 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

New York-Newark-Jersey City was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in July 2017. All 12 areas had over-the-year job growth during the period, with the rates of job growth in 10 areas exceeding the national increase of 1.5 percent. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell had the fastest rate of job growth, up 3.2 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (+3.1 percent) and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach (+3.0 percent). Chicago-Naperville-Elgin had the slowest rate of job growth, 0.7 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

New York added the largest number of jobs over the year, 176,400, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (108,200). Chicago had the smallest employment gain over the year, adding 33,100 jobs. Annual jobs gains in the remaining nine metropolitan areas ranged from 85,300 in Atlanta to 42,100 in Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale.

Over the year, education and health services addeed the most jobs in seven areas: Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Miami, New York, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.

Metropolitan area employment data for August 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, September 15, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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/.

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 July 15, 2015. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-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, N.Y. Metropolitan Division includes Dutchess and Putnam Counties in New York.
• The Nassau County-Suffolk County, N.Y. Metropolitan Division includes Nassau and Suffolk Counties in New York.
• The New York-Jersey City-White Plains, N.Y.-N.J. 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, N.J.-Pa. Metropolitan Division includes Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

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/.

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.