Total nonfarm employment for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 2,470,600 in August 2014, an increase of 51,400, or 2.1 percent, from one year ago, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the Atlanta area has recorded over-the-year employment gains each month for the last four years. Nationally, nonfarm employment increased 1.9 percent from August 2013. (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.)

Industry employment

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, professional and business services added the most jobs in August 2014, up 17,600, or 4.0 percent, over the 12-month period. Atlanta’s professional and business services sector has recorded over-the-year employment gains each month since March 2010. This supersector grew 3.6 percent nationally from August a year ago. (See chart 2.)

Trade, transportation, and utilities had the second largest increase in jobs locally, increasing by 11,300 from the previous August. Employment in trade, transportation, and utilities grew 2.1 percent in both Atlanta and the nation.

Leisure and hospitality was the only other supersector in the Atlanta area to add more than 8,000 jobs  over the year. Employment in leisure and hospitality grew 3.4 percent over the 12-month period. Nationally, this industry experienced growth of 2.4 percent.

Other services was the only supersector in the Atlanta area recording a decline in employment from the previous August, down 1,600 or 1.7 percent. Nationally, employment in this supersector increased 0.9 percent.

Employment in the 12 largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta was 1 of the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan statistical areas in August 2014. All of these areas experienced over-the-year job growth during the period, with six exceeding or matching the national average of 1.8 percent. The fastest rate of job growth was registered in Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, up 3.9 percent, more than double that for the nation. Detroit-Warren-Livonia had the smallest increase, up 0.1 percent. (See chart 3 and table 2.)

The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island area added the largest number of jobs, 156,500, since August 2013. Two other metropolitan areas gained more than 100,000 jobs—Houston (107,400) and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (101,500). Detroit recorded the smallest employment gain over the year, up 2,700 jobs, and was the only area of the 12 to add fewer than 10,000 jobs.

Professional and business services led employment growth in 6 of the 12 metropolitan areas over the year: Atlanta, Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. (See table 2.) Education and health services recorded the largest gains in four areas: Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Houston, New York, and Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington.

Over the year, government recorded the largest loss of jobs in two areas—New York and Philadelphia. Manufacturing lost the most jobs in two areas—Chicago and Los Angeles. Dallas, Houston, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach experienced no annual job losses in any supersector.

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.

Definition. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12^th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their places 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 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

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, 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 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 are 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 online 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/.

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 https://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/.

Current and historical information on the Current Employment Statistics program and other surveys are also available on our regional Web site at www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/home.htm. 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.

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 December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. Metropolitan Statistical Area includes the counties of Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton in Georgia.